Cordelia Scaife May, a Mellon family heiress, “was far and away the most important donor to the modern anti-immigration movement during her lifetime,” write Nicholas Kulish and Mike McIntire in an exhaustive investigation for the New York Times. May died 14 years ago and her foundation “has poured $180 million into groups that spent decades agitating for policies now pursued by President Trump.”

Unearthed letters and other personal writings reveal that May “believed that the United States was ‘being invaded on all fronts’ by foreigners, who ‘breed like hamsters’ and exhaust natural resources. She thought that the border with Mexico should be sealed and that abortions on demand would contain the swelling masses in developing countries.”

From Austin, Texas, where we are convening a statewide meeting of faith, law enforcement and business leaders, welcome to Thursday’s edition of Noorani’s Notes.

Have a story you’d like us to include? Email me at [email protected].

FILING SUIT — Thirteen states filed a lawsuit Wednesday over the Trump administration’s new “public charge” rule, writes Rebecca Klar in The Hill. It's the first lawsuit states have filed against the rule and the second challenge overall. Washington state Attorney General Robert Ferguson, who co-leads the lawsuit, said in a statement, “It forces families into an impossible choice — to sacrifice their dream of becoming Americans in order to provide health care, food or a roof over their children’s heads, or let their families go without in order to remain in the country."

ICE FUNDING — The Trump administration wants to relocate funding to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) from other Department of Homeland Security accounts. Per Caitlin Emma and Jennifer Scholtes in POLITICO, “It’s unclear how much the administration wants to move around through a process known as reprogramming, what the funds would be used for or whether the request would require congressional approval.” House Appropriations Chairwoman Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.) gave the concept an icy reception: “I can assure you there would not be support for adding additional money for ICE.”

LAW ENFORCEMENT — Law enforcement leaders sent a letter yesterday to the president and other administration officials urging improved conditions for migrant children in detention. The 42 Law Enforcement Immigration Task Force members who signed the letter called on the administration to minimize detention of children and invest “in the trained personnel and facilities necessary to process and properly care for children and their families.” This is a moral issue and a law enforcement issue.

FAREWELL — Tawheeda Wahabzada was born in Toronto to refugee parents from Afghanistan, who brought her to the U.S. when she was 5. She holds multiple degrees, including a master’s from the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin. Tawheeda works for an NGO promoting transparency and accountability in governments around the world. But, she writes in the New York Times, she plans to leave the U.S. and may not be allowed to return for 10 years. “The ugly politics of the United States leave me with no desirable choice. I no longer wish to be a bargaining chip for a border wall. I am no longer willing to be another sob story to win votes. I can no longer go to bed every night with the anxiety of such an unsecure future … I am privileged to have the agency to leave.” Her departure will be America’s loss.

RUTH AND NAOMI — For this week’s episode of Only in America, I speak with World Relief’s Karen Gonzalez, author of “The God Who Sees: Immigrants, the Bible, and the Journey to Belong.” In discussing her life as an immigrant from Guatemala and experience working with some of the world’s leading refugee resettlement agencies, Karen connects her own story to the lessons of her faith — including the story of Ruth and Naomi.

Thanks for reading,
Ali