Washington (CNN) Though the potential separation of very young children from their parents as a result of the administration's "zero-tolerance" border policy has drawn concern across the country, new data released by the government show very few such children have been impacted.

As of this week, the Department of Health and Human Services had more than 11,600 migrant children in its care -- roughly 80% of whom are children who came to the US by themselves.

But of that total, a much smaller number were under the age of 13, or what is referred to as "tender age" children, and even fewer still were under five.

Since the initiative to prosecute all adults crossing the border illegally -- including those with children -- went into effect, only 36 children under age five have entered HHS care -- and not all of those were necessarily separated from adults with them because of the policy.

As a result of the zero-tolerance policy, parents were sent to the Department of Justice to face charges. As children can't follow their parents into jails, they were designated in the same way as unaccompanied migrant children, or those who come to the US by themselves, and thus turned over to the Department of Health and Human Services, which cares for such children.

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