Washington (CNN) Attorney General Jeff Sessions asserted in an op-ed published late Tuesday that migrant children who are held by the Department of Health and Human Services, including those who are separated from their parents, are "well cared for."

His op-ed comes amid loud and growing criticism of the Trump administration's policy of prosecuting those who cross the US border illegally, which results in the separation of families.

"In fact, they get better care than a lot of American kids do. They are provided plenty of food, education in their language, health and dental care, and transported to their destination city — all at taxpayer expense," Sessions wrote in the USA Today op-ed

"Separations are temporary and rare," the attorney general wrote, adding that "the vast majority of children in custody came to this country by themselves."

Since the Trump administration instituted its "zero-tolerance" policy on immigration this spring, under which anyone caught entering the US illegally is referred for criminal prosecution, more than 2,000 children have been separated from their families. The policy and the resulting separations have been widely criticized by lawmakers, advocacy groups and health experts.

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