White House homeland security adviser Tom Bossert said the U.S. and other countries “have to change the dynamic in the Western Hemisphere," so illegal immigration does not become a problem. | Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images White House defends National Guard border deployment

White House homeland security adviser Tom Bossert on Sunday defended President Donald Trump’s move to send National Guard troops to the U.S.-Mexico border, saying illegal immigration is “a problem of a proportion at this point that can’t go unaddressed.”

The Trump administration saw a 200 percent increase last month in year-over-year border apprehensions, amounting to more than 50,000 people, Bossert told Martha Raddatz on ABC’s “This Week.”


Border apprehensions have fallen in recent years. But Bossert said the recent sharp rise, combined with an expected seasonal uptick next month, necessitated the deployment.

“We’ve got a leaking boat on our border, and we’re all quibbling with how much water’s in the boat. … What we’re doing is taking action now at the appropriate time instead of waiting as others have in the past,” he said.

Bossert declined to provide specifics on the cost or length of the new troop deployments on border. But he said he expected the majority of governors to cooperate.

The White House adviser said he didn’t have data to back up Trump’s assertion that migrant women “are raped at levels that nobody has ever seen before,” but Bossert said rape is “the price of entry” for many seeking to cross the border.

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Bossert added that the U.S. and other countries “have to change the dynamic in the Western Hemisphere” to address the problem’s roots.

After Trump’s order Wednesday to send the National Guard to the border, Texas began deploying 250 troops Friday evening, with more slated to arrive this week. Arizona plans to deploy 150 guardsmen to the border this week. Other governors, including Democrats in Oregon and Montana, have said they will not participate.

Trump has called for 2,000 to 4,000 new troops along the border to support the U.S. Border Patrol and other law enforcement agencies. During their tenures, Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush also sent National Guard troops to the border.