Migrants with serious illness, crime victims may now face deportation

• Medical deferred action allows immigrants who are receiving treatment for serious medical conditions such as cancer, cystic fibrosis, cerebral palsy and muscular dystrophy to stay in the U.S. temporarily without fear of deportation. Family members can also receive this deferred action.
• There are around 1,000 applicants for the 2-year program each year, according to the Times.
• "Because USCIS is not an enforcement agency, it is not appropriate for us to adjudicate requests for suspended enforcement not clearly assigned to us in law or policy," an agency spokesperson told Axios, adding that USCIS and ICE worked together on the change, "which will impact a limited number of people."

The big picture: Earlier this August, ICE made it easier for officers to deport crime victims waiting for decisions on their U visa applications — a visa specifically designed for victims who cooperate with law enforcement.

• In the past, ICE was required to ask USCIS for a preliminary decision on whether an immigrant was likely to be granted a U visa, an ICE spokesperson told Axios. That would determine whether the immigrant could stay in the U.S. while awaiting a final decision. ICE officers and lawyers can now make that judgement on their own.
• The Trump administration has made it harder for other victims of persecution, violence or human trafficking to find refuge in the U.S., as Axios has reported.

• "After nearly a month of stonewalling, it appears clear that the President has chosen the path of defiance, obstruction, and cover-up," the letter reads.

The state of play: Several White House officials have told Axios' Alayna Treene that the administration has no plans of complying with the committees' demands for interviews or documents without a full House vote formally approving an impeachment inquiry.

The big picture: The Trump administration's initial refusal to turn over the whistleblower complaint on the president's interactions with Ukraine is what led House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to finally support a formal impeachment inquiry.

Go deeper: Trump letter dares Pelosi to hold vote on impeachment inquiry

• Johnson asked the Justice Department earlier this week to look into links between Ukraine and Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign. His letter questioned the narrative that Biden's actions in Ukraine had nothing to do with his son's connection.
• However, it was also discovered that he signed onto a 2016 letter that mirrored Biden's work to reform Ukraine's prosecutor general and judiciary.
• There is no evidence that Biden's reform work in Ukraine was to protect his son's business dealings, as the president and some of his allies allege, or that he committed any form of corruption.

The state of play: Sondland, a Trump political appointee who donated $1 million to the president's inaugural committee, denied that there was a quid pro quo between the Trump administration and Ukraine's government in a series of text messages that former Ukraine special envoy Kurt Volker provided to a group of House committees investigating the Trump-Ukraine matter.

• "I think it’s crazy to withhold security assistance for help with a political campaign," Bill Taylor, the top U.S. diplomat to Ukraine, texted Sondland.
• Sondland texted back: "Bill, I believe you are incorrect about President Trump's intentions. The President has been crystal clear no quid pro quo's of any kind."
• The New York Times reported that Sondland's response came only after he spoke to the president.

Go deeper: House committees release texts from former Ukraine envoy Kurt Volker