The Inquiry

At the beginning of September, the far-right party Alternative for Germany or AfD, won an election in the eastern state of Thuringia. The result marked the far right’s first win, in a state parliament election, since World War Two. In the more populous neighbouring state of Saxony the party came in a close second. Whilst in both states the party has been officially classed as ‘right-wing extremist’, the results nonetheless, signify a sharp rebuke from the voting public towards Germany’s established political forces, including the ruling coalition. The Afd was founded in 2013 as an anti-euro party to challenge the government. It entered the German parliament for the first time in 2017 and now it’s focus has shifted to immigration and Islam. As the country faces federal elections next year, Germany’s Chancellor Olaf Scholz has urged mainstream parties to block the AfD from governing in Thuringia by maintaining a so-called firewall against it. But in terms of the voting public, the polls currently suggest the party could also take the most votes in Brandenburg state’s election coming up. So, on this week’s Inquiry we’re asking, Can Germany’s far right win the country? Contributors: Thomas König, Professor Dr. of Political Science, European Politics, University of Mannheim, Germany Dr. Michelle Lynn Kahn, Associate Professor, Modern European History, University of Richmond, VA, USA Christina Zuber, Professor Dr. of German Politics, Department of Politics and Public Administration, University of Konstanz, Germany Jörn Fleck, Senior Director of the Europe Centre, The Atlantic Council, Washington DC, USA Presenter: Tanya Beckett Producer: Jill Collins Researcher: Matt Toulson Editor: Tara McDermott Technical Producer: Nicky Edwards Broadcast Co-ordinator: Jacqui Johnson Image Credit: CLEMENS BILAN/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock

In August this year, a US court in Washington DC ruled that Google acted illegally to crush its competition and maintain a monopoly on online search and related advertising. This is just one of a number of lawsuits that have been filed against the big tech companies, as US antitrust authorities attempt to strengthen competition in the industry. Now Google is facing another legal case in Virginia, USA, over its advertising technology. Whilst in Europe it has been fined billions in monopoly cases. Google themselves dispute they are a ‘monopolist’ and presented evidence in the US court case in August to show that they face ‘fierce competition from a broad range of competitors’. The court did find Google’s search to be ‘superior’ to its competitors. And Google’s executives say consumers stick with them because they find Google ‘helpful’. Google is everywhere in our online lives and it handles billions of search queries every day, so on this week’s Inquiry, we’re asking ‘Can we trust Google?’ Contributors: David Vise, Pulitzer Prize winning Journalist and Author of ‘The Google Story’, New York, USA Professor Douglas Melamed, Visiting Fellow, Stanford Law School, Washington, DC. USA Jonathan Stray, Senior Scientist, UC Berkeley Center for Human-Compatible AI, California, USA Cristina Caffarra, Independent Expert Economist, Honorary Professor, UCL, London, UK Presenter: David Baker Producer: Jill Collins Researcher: Matt Toulson Editor: Tara McDermott Technical Producer: Nicky Edwards Broadcast Co-ordinator: Jacqui Johnson Image Credit: Reuters/Steve Marcus

Hezbollah has both political and military wings both of which are designated by several countries as terror organisations. It emerged several decades ago in Lebanon. Since Israel launched its war in Gaza in the wake of the Hamas attacks of October 7th, it has intensified its military activities along the border between Israel and Lebanon. The persistent question has been what is it trying to achieve? Are the attacks intended as a show of support for the Palestinians in Gaza or an attempt to take advantage of Israel’s diverted military focus? And could this dangerous front lead to an all-out war in the Middle East? This week on the Inquiry we are asking: What does Hezbollah want? Contributors: Aurélie Daher, Associate Professor in political science at the University Paris-Dauphine Lina Khatib, Associate Fellow with the Middle East and North Africa program at Chatham House Dr Bashir Saade, Lecturer of Politics and Religion at the University of Stirling in Scotland Mehran Kamrava, Professor of government at Georgetown University in Qatar Presenter: Tanya Beckett Producer: Louise Clarke Researcher: Matt Toulson Editor: Tara McDermott Technical Producer: Gareth Jones Broadcast Co-ordinator: Jacqui Johnson Image: Hezbollah Fighters and Mourners Attend Funeral of Top Commander Fuad Shukr in Beirut / NurPhoto / Contributor via Getty Images

In 2018 an historic document known as the ‘Provisional Agreement’ was signed between the Catholic Church and the People’s Republic of China. So far this agreement has been renewed every two years and the expectation is that it will be renewed again this year. The only detail that has been made public is that the Agreement allows the Pope final approval on Bishops appointed by the Chinese authorities, other than that it is cloaked in secrecy. But there have been occasions since its signing where the Communist Party have reneged on this Agreement, approving its own choice of Bishops. There are an estimated 13 million Catholics in China, split between the official Chinese state recognised church and the underground church. And one of the Catholic Church’s most senior members, Cardinal Joseph Zen, the former Bishop of Hong Kong, has in the past, referred to this Provisional Agreement as betrayal of those in the underground church. For the Pope, the Agreement is a pragmatic attempt to unify the church in China and make peace with the state, but the underground church see this Agreement as a sell-out by their spiritual father. So on The Inquiry, we’re asking ‘Is Pope Francis ‘betraying’ China’s Catholics?’ Contributors: Martin Palmer, Theologian and Sinologist, UK Fr. Jeroom Heyndrickx, CICM (Scheut) Missionary, Belgium Samuel Chu, President, Campaign for Hong Kong, USA John Allen, Editor of Crux, Italy Presenter: William Crawley Producer: Jill Collins Researcher: Matt Toulson Editor: Tara McDermott Technical Producer: Craig Boardman Broadcast Co-ordinator: Jacqui Johnson Image Credit: A worshipper waves the flag of China, as Pope Francis leaves the weekly general audience at St Peter’s Square in the Vatican. Photo by Filippo MONTEFORTE/AFP via Getty Images.

Project 2025 is a blueprint for the next conservative president of the US. The think tank behind it, The Heritage Foundation, has published a book, ‘Mandate for Leadership’. It’s an anthology of ideas that suggest sweeping changes to federal government, presidential power and US involvement in global affairs. Mandate for Leadership is a collection of policy ideas, written for any president to use once in office. Previous Republican administrations have implemented many of its action points. Project 2025 is divisive. Many see it as a way to strengthen the US constitution, but others fear it will dismantle it and invest irreversible power in the president. How might Project 2025 shape the US? Presented by Charmaine Cozier Produced by Louise Clarke Researched by Matt Toulson Editor Tara McDermott Technical producer Nicky Edwards Contributors: Don Moynihan, Professor at the McCourt School of Public Policy at Georgetown University in Washington DC Jeff Anderson, the President of the American Main Street Initiative Beau Breslin, Professor of Political Science at Skidmore College in upstate New York Heather Hurlburt, Associate Fellow at Chatham House (Image credit: AP)

Last year the Canadian province of British Columbia, launched a landmark three-year pilot programme on drug decriminalisation. For a number of years now communities across Canada have been facing their own opioid crisis, as drugs like fentanyl become more easily available. Vancouver in British Columbia, has always been at the forefront of drug policy change, yet it has seen an explosion in overdose deaths due to toxic drugs in recent years. So the city readily adopted the decriminalisation programme as a measure to try and help reduce the death rates. But now just over a year since its implementation, that pilot programme has been scaled back, and it now means that people found with drugs on their person in public places can be arrested again. Can Canada overcome its drug overdose crisis?’ Contributors: Dr. Alexander Caudarella, CEO Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction, Ottawa, Canada Kennedy Stewart, associate professor, Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, Canada Aljona Kurbatova, head of Centre for Health Promotion, National Institute for Health Development, Tallinn, Estonia Gillian Kolla, assistant professor, Memorial University, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada Presenter: Charmaine Cozier Producer: Jill Collins Researcher: Matt Toulson Editor: Tara McDermott Technical producer: Richard Hannaford (Photo: Supervised consumption sites in the DTES. Credit: Gary Coronado/Getty Images)

Hundreds of monumental human shaped statues are motionless, and exposed to the elements, on Rapa Nui - also known as Easter Island. A name that dates back to 1722, when a Dutch explorer first saw it on Easter Sunday. The statues, or Moai, were there centuries before that and are sacred to the Rapa Nui people. They have also become a world famous tourist attraction and can be found in multiple outdoor locations across the small island. They are heavy and huge - sizes range from 1 to 20 metres tall. Some are upright on platforms, others are toppled over and broken. Over the years, global weather has become more extreme and is having a devastating effect. Can the statues of Easter Island survive climate change? Contributors: Sonia Haoa Cardinali, Archaeologist with the Mata Ki Te Rangi Foundation and coordinator of Easter Island's national monuments, Rapa Nui Roberto Rondanelli, Meteorologist and Climate Scientist at the Department of Geophysics, University of Chile Jo Anne Van Tilburg, Archaeologist and the Director of the Easter Island Statue Project Pilar Vicuña, culture programme officer, Unesco (Santiago de Chile), Presenter: Charmaine Cozier Producers: Lorna Reader and Jill Collins Production co-ordinators: Liam Morrey and Tim Fernley Editor: Tara McDermott

The South China Sea is a major world shipping route bordered by a number of countries including China, the Philippines, Taiwan, Malaysia, all of whom have staked claims to various zones in this vast expanse of water. But tensions have grown in recent years between China who claim the majority of the South China Sea for themselves and the Philippines. Lately these tensions have escalated into a series of dangerous encounters as the two countries seek to enforce their right to disputed reefs and outcrops in these contested waters. At the heart of this particular dispute lies a rusting warship, which belongs to the Philippine navy. It has been berthed on a submerged reef, the Second Thomas Shoal, since 1999, an outpost that the Philippine government claim belongs to them. The Sierra Madre is manned by a small Filipino crew who need a continual supply of provisions from the mainland, but the supply ships are encountering increasingly dangerous stand-offs with the Chinese coast guard in the South China Sea. The Chinese claim these encounters are just aimed at blocking an ‘illegal transportation’ of supplies. But there are concerns that this regional dispute could spark a wider conflict between China and the US, who are treaty-bound to come to the defence of the Philippines, should it come under attack. So, on this week’s Inquiry, ‘What can a rusting warship tell us about tensions in the South China Sea?’ Contributors: Dr Hasim Turker, independent researcher, Istanbul, Turkey Professor Steve Tsang, director SOAS China Institute, London Professor Jay Batongbacal, director, Institute for Maritime Affairs and Law of the Sea, U.P. Law Centre, Philippines Gregory Poling, director South East Asia Programme and the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative, Centre for Strategic and International Studies, USA Presenter: Tanya Beckett Producer: Jill Collins Researcher: Katie Morgan Technical producer: Richard Hannaford Production co-ordinator: Tim Fernley Editor: Tara McDermott (Photo: The Philippine ship BRP Sierra Madre in the disputed Second Thomas Shoal in the South China Sea. Credit: Lisa Marie David/Getty Images)

The H5N1 bird flu virus has spread from birds to dairy cattle in the United States where a number of agricultural workers have also been infected by it. This is thought to be the first time humans have caught the virus from another mammal and the first time the virus has been detected in cattle. This unusual development is being tracked by virologists who have followed Bird Flu since it first emerged in Hong Kong in the 1990s. Since then, across the world millions of wild birds and poultry have died from the virus and over 400 human deaths worldwide have been linked to it. So it is a concern that the US outbreak has emerged in dairy cattle herds and that there has been some human infection - although there has been no person-to-person infection. This Inquiry examines how the virus infects birds and mammals and what the potential is for further transmission to humans. Contributors: Dr Erin Sorrell is a senior scholar and associate professor at Johns Hopkins University in the US. Professor Wendy Barclay studies viruses at Imperial College London in the UK Dr Ed Hutchinson is a virologist at the MRC University of Glasgow Centre for Virus Research in Scotland Dr Marc-Alain Widdowson leads the high threat pathogens group at the World Health Organisation in Europe. Presenter: Charmaine Cozier Producer: Phil Reevell Researcher: Katie Morgan Editor: Tara McDermott Sound: Nicky Edwards Production co-ordinator: Tim Fernley (Photo Cows queuing for their midway milking at United Dreams Dairy, in North Freedom, Wisconsin. Credit: The Washington Post/Getty Images

Since the CNN Presidential Debate in June 2024 headlines in the US calling for Joe Biden to pull out of the race have been relentless. There have been questions about his age, performance, and ability to run for a second term in the White House. Biden’s ratings have slipped, and donors and party members have publicly said that Biden should step aside. Joe Biden maintains he will not go and that he is the best person to beat would-be president Donald Trump. He does still have staunch supporters and he was democratically elected as presumptive nominee by the electorate. But with weeks to go before the Democratic National Committee meets to make Biden the official candidate, how easy would it be to find a replacement? This week on The Inquiry we’re asking, can the Democrats replace Biden? Presented by Tanya Beckett Produced by Louise Clarke Researched by Matt Toulson Production Coordinators: Ellie Dover & Tim Fernley Technical Producer: Nicky Edwards Editor: Tara McDermott Contributors: Martha McDevitt Pugh, International Chair of Democrats Abroad Elaine Kamarck, senior fellow in Governance Studies and the director of the Center for Effective Public Management at The Brookings Institution Ed Kilgore, political columnist for New York Magazine Hans Noel, associate Professor of Government at Georgetown University Image Credit: Bloomberg\Getty

The European Union is made up of 27 sovereign member states and has several governing institutions. On 1 July 2024, Viktor Orbán’s government will hold the presidency of the Council of the European Union for six months. This diplomatic role may present its challenges because Hungary takes a divergent view from centrist colleagues in a few areas, two of them being climate policy and support for Ukraine. And in the past Hungary has used its veto to stall votes on policies that support Ukraine. After recent European elections hard-right parties now have a greater presence in the European Parliament and they have different priorities from their more centrist counterparts. The question is how the far-right, together with Hungary’s presidency of the Council of the EU, can alter the direction of European politics. Presenter: Tanya Beckett Producer: Louise Clarke Researchet: Matt Toulson Sound engineer: Richard Hannaford Production co-ordinator: Tim Fernley Editor: Tara McDermott Contributors: Pawel Zerka, senior policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations in Paris Thu Nguyen, deputy director of the EU policy think tank the Jacques Delors Centre in Berlin Dimitar Bechev, from the School of Global and Area Studies at the University of Oxford and Senior fellow at Carnegie Europe Marta Mucznik, senior EU analyst for International Crisis Group (Photo:Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Mihaly Orban. Credit: Thierry Monasse/Getty Images)

Artificial Intelligence is something that’s all around us in our daily lives. And even if we do use it, whether that’s to search for a recipe online, make a funny photo, or ask it to help with our homework, every task that AI does uses power. That power is electricity. Around the world there are thousands of data centres hosting computers that process all our requests. And as those tasks get more sophisticated, and AI becomes Super Intelligent, they will need even more electricity. But as Super AI develops, could it become so intelligent that it is able to solve the very problems it creates? Contributors: Dr Mark Van Rijmenam, a strategic futurist Kate Crawford, research professor at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles and senior principal researcher at Microsoft Research in New York Sam Young, AI Manager at Energy Systems Catapult Rose Mutiso, research director of the Energy for Growth Hub Presented by David Baker Produced by Louise Clarke Researched by Katie Morgan Edited by Tara McDermott Technically Produced by Craig Boardman

The Caribbean country of Haiti has been blighted for years by groups of armed gangs, who have proved more than a match for the national police force, who have struggled to confront them. Now as the country descends further into lawlessness, a response to Haiti’s plea for international assistance may finally be at hand, in the form of a United Nations backed multi-national security force led by Kenya and supported financially by the United States. This East African country has volunteered to lead the mission with their own elite police unit, to help Haiti’s transitional authorities restore order. But the Kenyan government’s decision to involve itself in another country’s problems has raised some questions back home about the deployment. So, on this week’s Inquiry, we’re asking ‘Why is Kenya getting involved in Haiti?’ Contributors: Robert Fatton Jr, Emeritus Professor of Politics, University of Virginia, USA. Dismas Mokua, Political Risk Analyst, Tricarta Advisory Limited, Nairobi, Kenya Professor Karuti Kanyinga, University of Nairobi Institute for Development Studies, Kenya Michelle Gavin, Ralph Bunche Senior Fellow, Council on Foreign Relations, New York, USA Presenter: Charmaine Cozier Producer: Jill Collins Researcher: Matt Toulson Technical Producer: Nicky Edwards Production Coordinator:Tim Fernley Editor: Tara McDermott Image/Credit: Haiti awaits the arrival of Kenyan led international security support mission, Port Au Prince/ORLANDO BARRIA/EPA-EFE/REX Shutterstock via BBC Images

In September 2022 a Christian pastor had a meeting with Kim Keon Hee, the first lady of South Korea, in her private residence. That meeting was recorded with a hidden camera and the film was released a year later. What happens in the footage is not entirely clear … except that it appears to show two people - a man and a woman meeting, and one offering an expensive bagged gift to the other. This obscure video triggered a political storm so large that some say it even affected the outcome of the country’s parliamentary elections. So what does a designer handbag say about South Korean politics? Contributors: Raphael Rashid, freelance Journalist based in Seoul Sarah Son, Director of the Centre for South Korean Studies at the University of Sheffield Jong Eun Lee, Assistant Professor of Political Science at North Greenville University in South Carolina Andrew Yeo, Senior Fellow and South Korea Foundation Chair at the Brookings Institution Presented by Tanya Beckett Produced by Louise Clarke Researched by Matt Toulson Production Coordinator: Tim Fernley Editor: Tara McDermott Image Credit: Philip Fong\Getty

On the 28th of May, in a small country on the easternmost reaches of Europe, a new law came into effect. For the vast majority of people around the world, this new ruling, in a nation of fewer than 4 million inhabitants, went largely unnoticed. However, for many of the citizens of Georgia it marked a setback, throwing off course the country’s prospects of joining the European Union and aligning it more closely with Moscow. This week on The Inquiry we’re asking, ‘Is Georgia turning its back on Europe?’ Contributors: Megi Kartsivadze, DPhil student, Oxford School of Global and Area Studies, University of Oxford, and an invited lecturer at the University of Tbilisi, Georgia Professor Stephen Jones, Director of the Program on Georgian Studies at the Davis Center at Harvard University, Cambridge, MA Dr. Lia Tsuladze, Executive Director of the Center for Social Sciences and an Associate Professor of Sociology at Tbilisi State University, Georgia Maia Nikoladze, Assistant Director in the GeoEconomics Center, Atlantic Council, Washington DC Production team: Presenter: Tanya Beckett Producer: Lorna Reader Technical Producer: Craig Boardman Researcher: Matt Toulson Production Coordinators: Ellie Dover & Tim Fernley Editor: Tara McDermott Image Credit: David Mdzinarishvili/Epa-Efe/Rex/Shutterstock

The current record holder for the world’s biggest iceberg is the A23a. Back in 1986 this colossus broke away from an Antarctic ice sheet. This process of breaking off or ‘calving’ as it is known is a natural part of the life cycle of an ice sheet. But A23a then became lodged in the Weddell Sea for more than thirty years, until four years ago a gradual melting allowed the berg to refloat. Since then it’s been steadily on the move, heading in the same direction as Antarctic icebergs before it, towards the warm waters of the Southern Ocean, where it will eventually shrink from melting. As it travels, the iceberg has been playing an important role on the ecological environment around it, both in positive and negative ways. So, on this week on The Inquiry, we’re asking ‘What can the world’s biggest iceberg tell us?’ Contributors: Dr. Catherine Walker, Glaciologist, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Massachusetts, USA Dr. Oliver Marsh, Glaciologist, British Antarctic Survey, Cambridge, UK Jemma Wadham, Professor of Glaciology, UiT The Arctic University of Norway Christopher Shuman, Research Associate Professor, NASA Goddard Space Flight Centre, Maryland, USA Presenter: William Crawley Producer: Jill Collins Researcher: Katie Morgan Editor: Tara McDermott Production Co-ordinator: Ellie Dover Image Credit: A23a in Antarctica, Jan 2024. Rob Suisted/Reuters/via BBC Images

In February 2024, Myanmar reactivated an old law which had been on hold for 14 years, stating adult men aged up to 35, and women up to 27 years old, must serve at least two years in the country’s armed forces. The plan is to add sixty thousand new recruits annually – and anyone caught avoiding conscription faces prison and a fine. It’s part of the military-led government’s bid to fight back in a brutal civil war, which broke out in 2021 after its coup seized power from the democratically elected party. A violent crackdown on the peaceful public protests that followed triggered widespread armed resistance and has energised other groups who are determined to end military leadership. Myanmar is no stranger to internal unrest, but this latest conflict is pushing it closer to the edge. This week we’re asking - Is Myanmar on the brink of collapse? Contributors: Tin Htar Swe, Former Editor of BBC Burmese Service & freelance Myanmar consultant Professor Michael W. Charney, Professor of Asian and Military History, SOAS, University of London Dr David Brenner, Senior Lecturer in International Relations, University of Sussex Dr Min Zaw Oo, Executive Director, Myanmar Institute for Peace and Security Production team: Presenter: Charmaine Cozier Producer: Lorna Reader Researcher: Matt Toulson Editor: Tara McDermott Image: A protester holds a placard with a three-finger salute in front of a military tank parked aside the street in front of the Central Bank building in Yangon, Myanmar, on 15 February 2021 (Credit: Aung Kyaw Htet/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

Historically, Turkey has always had a strong women’s rights movement, stemming from the days of the Ottoman Empire through to the emergence of the Republic of Turkey into the present day. At the top of the movement’s agenda now is the fight to protect women against violence from men. It’s three years since Turkey pulled out of the Istanbul Convention, the Europe wide treaty on combatting violence against women and girls. The Turkish Government has its own version of domestic violence law, but there are concerns that this doesn’t offer the same protection as the Convention. Campaigners say that femicide and violence against women continues to plague society and that there is an increasingly anti-gender rhetoric within mainstream politics. So, this week on The Inquiry, we’re asking ‘Is Turkey getting more dangerous for women?’ Contributors: Dr. Sevgi Adak, Institute for the Study of Muslim Civilisations, The Aga Khan University. Professor Seda Demiralp, Işık University, Turkey. Dr. Ezel Buse Sönmezocak, International Human Rights Lawyer, Turkey Dr. Hürcan Aslı Aksoy, German Institute for International and Security Affairs, Berlin. Presenter: Emily Wither Producer: Jill Collins Researcher: Katie Morgan Production Co-ordinator: Liam Morrey Image credit: Cagla Gurdogan via REUTERS from BBC Images

The war in Ukraine has reached a pivotal moment. After months of an apparent stalling on the frontlines, Russia has recently made a series of critical breakthroughs. Now the race is on for Kyiv to get newly approved military aid to the front line before Russian forces attack Ukraine’s second largest city, Kharkiv. The 60 billion dollar bill passed in America’s congress at the end of April allows for Ukraine to push back against Russian forces and prepare to mount an offensive next year. But a gap in the supply of missiles has left Kyiv dangerously exposed and huge questions remain about how Ukraine’s President will act next. So, on this week’s Inquiry, we’re asking ‘Has US military aid come in time for President Zelensky?’ Contributors: Gustav Gressel, senior policy fellow with the Wider Europe Programme at the European Council on Foreign Relations’ Berlin office. Max Bergmann, Director, Europe, Russia, and Eurasia Program and Stuart Center, at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), in the US. Dr Marina Miron, post-doctoral researcher in the War Studies Department and an honorary researcher at the Centre for Military Ethics and the Department of Defence Studies, Kings College, London. Professor Olga Onuch, Professor (Chair) in Comparative and Ukrainian Politics at the University of Manchester, UK. Presenter: Tanya Beckett Producer: Lorna Reader Researcher: Matt Toulson Production Co-ordinator: Liam Morrey Image credit: Ukrainian Presidential Press Service via Reuters via BBC Images

Last year the US state of Texas introduced a controversial law designed to control the huge number of undocumented migrants crossing its southern border with Mexico. The law known as Senate Bill 4 or SB4, allows local and state police the power to arrest and charge people with a newly created state crime - ‘illegal entry’. Immigration law has historically been handled by the federal government. Crossing the border is a federal crime and addressed by immigration courts that fall under the justice department. Now Texas is embroiled in a legal battle and SB4 has been paused. But it’s just the latest measure that Texas has taken to stop hundreds of thousands of migrants entering the US on its border. Back in 2021 the state’s Governor, Greg Abbott launched a multi-billion dollar border security programme known as Operation Lone Star. Along with his Republican lawmakers, the Governor’s argument is that Texas has a legal right to defend itself and they allege that Democrat President Joe Biden has failed to secure the US southern border in violation of the law. But with a Presidential election this November, it remains to be seen if Texas will have a more sympathetic ally in the White House in the future. So, on this week’s Inquiry, we’re asking ‘Can Texas go it alone on border control?’ Contributors: Dr. Ernesto Castañeda, Director of the Centre for Latin American and Latino Studies and its Immigration Lab, American University, Washington DC, USA Dr James Henson, Director, Texas Politics Project, Department of Government, The University of Texas at Austin, USA. Denise Gilman, Clinical Professor, Co-Director Immigration Clinic, The University of Texas at Austin, School of Law, USA Julia Gelatt, Associate Director, US Immigration Policy Programme, Migration Policy Institute, Washington DC, USA Presenter: Charmaine Cozier Producer: Jill Collins Researcher: Matt Toulson Editor: Tara McDermott Technical Producer: Craig Boardman Production Co-ordinator: Liam Morrey (Photo credit: Adam Davis via BBC Images