Washington (CNN) A top immigration official on Tuesday said family detention centers are "more like summer camp" than a jail during a congressional hearing on the administration's efforts to reunite thousands of immigrant families separated as a result of its zero-tolerance immigration policy.

Asked at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing to describe the so-called family residential centers where kids and parents are held, Matthew Albence, the head of enforcement and removal operations for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, made the comparison of the detention centers to a summer camp.

"These individuals have access to 24/7 food and water. They have educational opportunities. They have recreational opportunities, both structured as well as unstructured," Albence said. "There's basketball courts, there's exercise classes, there's soccer fields that we put in there. They have extensive medical, dental and mental health opportunities. In fact, many of these individuals, the first time they've ever seen a dentist is when they've come to one of our (family residential) centers."

Later in the hearing, Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, asked panelists if they had been to any of the family residential centers. Two of the five panelists said they had visited the facilities. She then asked the two panelists whether they would feel comfortable sending their child to one.

"That's a difficult question to answer, " said Jennifer Higgins, the associate director of refugee, asylum and international operations at US Citizenship and Immigration Services. "It's difficult to put myself in the position of an individual who takes a dangerous journey in which their child could be harmed, let alone whether I would send my children."

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