​Watch this MSNBC host slam the Trump administration's attempt to exaggerate claims of asylum fraud at the border

Stephanie Ruhle explains that less than 1 percent of families apprehended at the border aren't genuine families

​From the June 19 edition of MSNBC's MSNBC Live with Velshi and Ruhle:​

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STEPHANIE RUHLE (HOST): ​​DHS Secretary Kirst​j​en Nielsen, we've been saying her name a lot these days. She's justifying family separation by saying there​ i​s a huge jump in smugglers and gang members using kids unrelated to them to try to get inside the U.S. But​ Ms. Nielsen,​ I hope you're watching​.​ For fact's sake, you need to know ​some ​context. Here is specifically what ​S​ecretary Nielsen said at yesterday's ​W​hite ​H​ouse briefing.

​KIRSTJEN NIELSEN (SECRETARY OF HOMELAND SECURITY): In the last five months we've had​ a​ 314​ percent​ increase in adults and children arriving at the border fraudulently claiming to be a family unit.

​RUHLE: Come on, now. The Washington ​P​ost points out this is actually a ​teeny ​tiny fraction of the families apprehended during that time period. ​Listen up. ​In​ fiscal year​ 2017​,​ there were 46 cases where people falsely claimed the children they were​ travelling​ with were​ actually​ theirs. In the first five months of fiscal year 2018, there was 191 of these cases​,​ which is ​in fact ​an increase of 315​ percent​. Those numbers sound big, right?

But here's where the context couldn't be more important. In the first five months of this fiscal year, more than 31,000 families were a​pprehended at the border. ​So if we know 191 of them were fraudulent, that​ i​s less than 1​ percent​. To put it another way, for every 1,000 families who are approached at the border at that time, only 6 involved are pretending to be a child's parent. That is 6 out of 1,000. ​Six​ out of 1,000. It's like saying all homeless people must be drunks or broken out of an insane asylum. It's absurd.​

Related:

WashPost: How to mislead with statistics, DHS Secretary Nielsen edition

Previously:

Myths and facts: Trump's separation of families and detention of children at the U.S.-Mexico border

On Fox, ICE director defends tearing asylum-seeking families apart using a misleading statistic on human smuggling

Fox & Friends host: “You can't even really blame an administration” for policy under Trump of separating parents from children at the border