President Barack Obama previously put his support behind the House's piecemeal passage of immigration reform, but is now urging the House to pass a comprehensive immigration reform bill. 

On Friday, Obama implored the House to back the Senate's comprehensive immigration reform bill, saying the legislation is politically popular and would benefit the country. However, he did not mention the option of dividing the measure into a series of smaller bills, according to Politico. 

Obama praised the Senate bill, as Vice President Joe Biden did last week, and urged the House to pass the legislation. 

"There are a few differences here and there, but the truth of the matter is that the Senate bill has the main components of comprehensive immigration reform that would boost our economy, give us an opportunity to attract more investment and high-skilled workers who are doing great things in places like Silicon Valley and around the country," Obama said. "So let's go ahead and get that done."

"We can get immigration reform done," Obama continued. "We've got a concept that has bipartisan support. Let's see if we can break through the politics on this."

The shift away from supporting the piecemeal passage of immigration reform began when Biden urged House Speaker John Boehner to call a vote on the Senate bill. 

"He is unwilling to let the House speak, he is unwilling to let the House vote," Biden said. "John Boehner, call up the bill."

Obama spent the last few months calling for the House to take up the Senate bill, then said he was fine with the House introducing smaller bills during an interview at the Wall Street Journal's CEO Council. 

"If they want to chop that thing up into five pieces, as long as all five pieces get done, I don't care what it looks like," Obama said at the event. "What we don't want to do is simply carve out one piece of it ... but leave behind some of the tougher stuff that still needs to get done."

Obama is now renewing pressure on House GOP members to take up the Senate legislation as his administration faces more pressure from immigration reform advocates to reduce the number of deportations. 

According to The New York Times, immigration enforcement officials reported on Thursday that the Obama administration deported 368,644 foreigners during the 2013 fiscal year, which is 10 percent fewer than in 2012. However the, total number deported under Obama is still more than 1.9 million, which is more than any other American president. 

Officials say 98 percent of those deported were convicted criminals, national security risks, recent border crossers or serious immigration offenders. 

According to the report, 59 percent were convicted of a crime, which is a slight increase from last year.