'It's not fair, and it's not right, and we're going to change it,' he said.

But he said it was 'very important for us to sequence these big initiatives in way where they don't all just crash at the same time.'

He said meetings have begun on immigration reform among House and Senate Democrats and Republicans, with Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano coordinating the discussions.

'I would anticipate that before the year is out we will have draft legislation, along with sponsors potentially in the House and Senate, who are ready to move this forward,' Obama said.

Then, next year, 'we should be in a position to start acting,' he said, although he acknowledged that 'this is going to be difficult.'

The overhaul would give illegal immigrants in the United States the opportunity 'to achieve a pathway to citizenship so that they don't have to live in the shadows,' Obama said. 'So I'm confident we can get it done.'

(Arun Kumar can be contacted at arun.kumar@ians.in)