How many people were apprehended by Border Patrol on the southwest border this year?

The potential reinstatement of Trump-era Migrant Protection Protocols also called the Remain in Mexico policy, has been in flux since President Joe Biden took office.

Biden ended the policy soon after taking office. It required people seeking asylum without proper documentation to wait in Mexico for their immigration court date. The policy affected more than 70,000 migrants, many of whom legally sought asylum or refuge at the southwestern border, the El Paso Times reported.

The administration was ordered to reinstate these protocols by a federal court in Texas in August, and the Supreme Court upheld that decision. Mexico would have to agree to the policy’s reinstatement.

But the Biden administration again expressed on Oct. 29 its goal to end the policy if the courts allow it through a memo by Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. The memo said the policy likely reduced the flow of migrants, but Mayorkas opposed the policy for humanitarian reasons.

Republicans have been calling for the reinstatement of the policy, and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, appearing Oct. 18 on Fox News, said the Migrant Protection Policy lowered the number of migrants and spoke in favor of the court-ordered reinstatement of the policy.

Patrick described the number of migrants crossing the border under Biden’s presidency as “out of control.” Patrick said, “And right now, we are looking at over a million people apprehended this year, meaning probably another 2 or 3 million have come in illegally.”

Let’s take a look at that claim: Has the Border Patrol apprehended more than 1 million people, and have millions more people crossed the border?