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Hillary Rodham Clinton, who has been distancing herself from the Obama administration on the environment and foreign policy, has now added immigration to the list.

The former secretary of state suggested that President Obama has been too hard on undocumented immigrants during the last six and a half years, and that she would take a more humane approach as president, avoiding deporting people and breaking up families over small crimes.

In an interview with Telemundo, Mrs. Clinton said that Mr. Obama has done a lot on behalf of immigrants in his tenure, but that in some cases his administration’s enforcement policies were interpreted and imposed too aggressively.

“It was part of a strategy,” Mrs. Clinton said, explaining that Mr. Obama was being tough in hopes that it would help spur Republicans to the table to pass comprehensive immigration reform. “I think that strategy is no longer workable. So therefore I think we have to go back to being a much less harsh and aggressive enforcer.”

Mrs. Clinton went on to say that she would, of course, actively work to deport felons and violent people. However, she pointed to instances in which people were deported because of minor or old traffic offenses and said that it would be wrong to disrupt families overs such infractions.

“I just don’t believe in that,” said Mrs. Clinton, who promised to fight for a comprehensive immigration reform package if she is elected. “I think everybody is entitled to a second chance.”

While Mrs. Clinton was somewhat critical of Mr. Obama’s immigration policy, she said that she was “furious” with Donald J. Trump, who has said many people who sneak across the border with Mexico are criminals and rapists. Acknowledging that she sometimes traveled in the same circles with Mr. Trump when she was a senator from New York, Mrs. Clinton expressed disappointment in his new tone.

“He never was like that,” she said, recalling that the billionaire developer was always a big talker but rarely so harsh. “I saw him from time to time at events around the city. I never heard him say anything like that. I don’t understand why he is doing what he’s doing.”