VOL. CLXVIII . . . No. 58,329 © 2019 The New York Times Company NEW YORK, THURSDAY, MAY 16, 2019

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Women seeking office in India, no mat-ter how qualified, must often emphasizethat they are running with the approvalof male party bosses. PAGE A4

INTERNATIONAL A4-9

Her Campaign. His Blessing.The Senate has filled nearly a quarterof the circuit court system with conser-vative judges, sacrificing its legislativeagenda in the process. PAGE A12

NATIONAL A10-17

A Confirmation MilestoneThe stainless steel 1986 Jeff Koonssculpture sold for $91.1 million atChristie’s, setting an auction high for awork by a living artist. PAGE A21

NEW YORK A18-21

Koons’s ‘Rabbit’ Breaks RecordFor the first time, brothers — Stephenand Seth Curry — are up against eachother in an N.B.A. conference final. Thisis tricky for their parents. PAGE B8

SPORTSTHURSDAY B8-14

They’re Rooting for Curry Stacey Abrams PAGE A23

EDITORIAL, OP-ED A22-23

WASHINGTON — The intelli-gence that caused the WhiteHouse to escalate its warningsabout a threat from Iran camefrom photographs of missiles onsmall boats in the Persian Gulfthat were put on board by Iranianparamilitary forces, three Ameri-can officials said.

Overhead imagery showedfully assembled missiles, stokingfears that the Islamic Revolution-ary Guards Corps would fire themat United States naval ships. Addi-tional pieces of intelligence pickedup threats against commercialshipping and potential attacks byArab militias with Iran ties on

American troops in Iraq.But just how alarmed the

Trump administration should beover the new intelligence is a sub-ject of fierce debate among theWhite House, the Pentagon, theC.I.A. and America’s allies.

The photographs presented adifferent kind of threat than previ-ously seen from Iran, said thethree officials, who spoke on thecondition of anonymity becausethey were not authorized to talkabout it publicly. Taken with theother intelligence, the photo-graphs could indicate that Iran ispreparing to attack United Statesforces. That is the view of John R.

MISSILE PICTURES STOKE ARGUMENTOVER IRAN THREAT

DEBATING INTELLIGENCE

White House Sees a Perilat Sea — Some Warn

of an Overreaction

This article is by Julian E. Barnes,Eric Schmitt, Nicholas Fandos andEdward Wong.

Continued on Page A8

Secretary of State Mike Pom-peo is wary of Tehran’s moves.

SARAH SILBIGER/THE NEW YORK TIMES

WASHINGTON — PresidentTrump on Thursday will unveil aplan to overhaul parts of the na-tion’s immigration system thatwould impose new security meas-ures at the border and signifi-cantly increase the educationaland skills requirements for peopleallowed to migrate to the UnitedStates.

The proposal, senior adminis-tration officials said on Wednes-day, would vastly scale back thesystem of family-based immigra-tion that for decades has allowedimmigrants to bring their spousesand children to live with them, theofficials said. In its place, the newplan would provide opportunitiesfor immigrants who have specificskills or job offers to work in theUnited States, provided they candemonstrate English proficiencyand educational attainment, andpass a civics exam.

Jared Kushner, the president’sson-in-law and a White House ad-viser, spent months working onthe plan, which will serve as a cen-tral part of Mr. Trump’s re-electioncampaign message. Working withhim was Stephen Miller, the presi-dent’s top immigration adviser,but the plan falls short of the moreextreme measures that Mr. Millerhas long pressed the president toadopt and that have long been op-posed by Democrats in Congress.

Attempts by Mr. Trump’s twopredecessors, George W. Bushand Barack Obama, to overcomethose kinds of differences andachieve a bipartisan consensus onimmigration policy ended in fail-ure. Since then, the divisions be-tween the parties have only wors-ened, and there is little chance thenew proposal will change that. Fordifferent reasons, the broad out-lines of the plan described onWednesday are certain to be un-popular with lawmakers on bothsides of the aisle.

It calls for construction of someof the border wall that is a pre-occupation of Mr. Trump’s and ve-hemently opposed by Democrats,and upends family-based migra-tion in ways that Democrats andimmigrant advocates have longopposed. And it contains no provi-sion for providing legal status topeople brought to the UnitedStates as children, known asDreamers, or other undocument-

Trump’s PlanUpends RulesOn Migration

Basing Entry on SkillsMore Than Families

By MICHAEL D. SHEAR

Continued on Page A11

As Corey Johnson, the speakerof the New York City Council,urged his colleagues on Wednes-day to ban the sale of fur in thecity, he argued that it was the“moral thing to do.”

But the proposed ban, backedby animal rights advocates, hasmet an unexpected challenge

from a diverse set of opponents,including black pastors and Ha-sidic leaders. They say a prohibi-tion would fly in the face of cen-turies of religious and cultural tra-dition.

Black ministers have stagedprotests, saying that for many Af-rican-Americans, wearing furs isa treasured hallmark of achieve-ment. Hasidic rabbis point to themany men who wear fur hats onthe Sabbath. And fur shop owners

and garment manufacturers haveraised alarms over the potentialloss of jobs and an attack on an in-dustry with a deep history in NewYork.

With the Council holding a hear-

ing on the proposal on Wednes-day, the deep dissension was evi-dent outside City Hall. Protestersyelled, “Put people first,” andcounterprotesters responded,“How many animals have to die?”

Each side had celebrity power:The anti-fur movement was repre-sented by Tim Gunn, the “ProjectRunway” style guru; the pro-furcrowd had Safaree Samuels, a rap-

Drive to Ban Fur Sales in New York Faces a Tapestry of OppositionBy WILLIAM NEUMANand JEFFERY C. MAYS

Black Pastors, Hasidimand Rapper Fight Bill

Continued on Page A20

DANIEL ACKER FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

As they face damaging floods, a city’s officials try to stay clear of climate-change politics. Page A10.Where Rivers Are Rising

The Metropolitan Museum ofArt said on Wednesday that itwould stop accepting gifts frommembers of the Sackler familylinked to the maker of OxyContin,severing ties between one of theworld’s most prestigious muse-ums and one of its most prolificphilanthropic dynasties.

The decision was months in themaking, and followed steps byother museums, including theTate Modern in London and theSolomon R. Guggenheim Mu-seum in New York, to distancethemselves from the family be-hind Purdue Pharma. On Wednes-day, the American Museum of Na-tural History said that it, too, hadceased taking Sackler donations.

The moves reflect the growingoutrage over the role the Sacklersmay have played in the opioid cri-sis, as well as an energized activ-ist movement that is starting toforce museums to reckon withwhere some of their money comesfrom.

“The museum takes a positionof gratitude and respect to thosewho support us, but on occasion,we feel it’s necessary to step awayfrom gifts that are not in the publicinterest, or in our institution’s in-terest,” said Daniel H. Weiss, thepresident of the Met. “That iswhat we’re doing here.”

The Met’s relationship with theSacklers goes back decades, andone of its biggest attractions, theTemple of Dendur, sits in the

Met MuseumSpurns FamilyTied to Opioids

By ELIZABETH A. HARRIS

The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Temple of Dendur sits in the glass-enclosed Sackler Wing, seen here from Central Park.KARSTEN MORAN FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

Continued on Page A20

WASHINGTON — Abortionrights are at risk at the SupremeCourt, but the short-term threatmay not come from extrememeasures like the one passed byAlabama lawmakers.

The court led by Chief JusticeJohn G. Roberts Jr. is more likelyto chip away at the constitutionalright to abortion established in1973 in Roe v. Wade than to over-turn it outright. It will have plentyof opportunities to do so.

As soon as Monday, the courtcould announce whether it willhear challenges to three provi-

sions of Indiana abortion laws onissues like the disposal of fetal re-mains and an 18-hour waiting pe-riod after state-mandated ultra-sound examinations. The courtwill in the coming months almostcertainly agree to hear a chal-lenge to a Louisiana law that couldreduce the number of abortionclinics in the state to one.

The Alabama bill, signed intolaw on Wednesday, is a differentkind of measure, one thatsquarely conflicts with Roe. Itwould ban almost all abortions inthe state, without exceptions forrape and incest, and subject abor-tion providers to harsh criminalpenalties. Because the Robertscourt tends toward incremental-ism, it is not likely to want to takeon a direct confrontation with that

Path to Nullify Roe v. Wade a Little Bit at a TimeBy ADAM LIPTAK Many Cases With the

Potential to Eat Awayat Abortion Rights

Continued on Page A15

A NEAR BAN Alabama’s governorsigned the most restrictive abor-tion law in the country. PAGE A14

WASHINGTON — Donald J.Trump lost an auction in 1988 for a58-key piano used in the classicfilm “Casablanca” to a Japanesetrading company representing acollector. While he brushed off be-ing outbid, it was a firsthand re-minder of Japan’s growing wealth,and the following year, Mr. Trumpwent on television to call for a 15percent to 20 percent tax on im-ports from Japan.

“I believe very strongly in tar-iffs,” Mr. Trump, at the time aManhattan real estate developerwith fledgling political instincts,told the journalist Diane Sawyer,before criticizing Japan, West

Germany, Saudi Arabia and SouthKorea for their trade practices.“America is being ripped off,” hesaid. “We’re a debtor nation, andwe have to tax, we have to tariff,we have to protect this country.”

Thirty years later, few issueshave defined Mr. Trump’s presi-dency more than his love for tar-iffs — and on few issues has hebeen more unswerving. Allies andhistorians say that love is rootedin Mr. Trump’s experience as abusinessman in the 1980s with thepeople and money of Japan, thenperceived as a mortal threat toAmerica’s economic pre-emi-nence.

“This is something that hasbeen stuck in his craw since the’80s,” said Dan DiMicco, a formersteel executive who helped draft

Trump Found a Love for TariffsBattling a Booming ’80s Japan

By JIM TANKERSLEY and MARK LANDLER

Continued on Page A9

PAIN IN STORE The growing tradewar is likely to sting all aroundthe globe, experts say. PAGE B1

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