The Trump administration has increasingly used grant cuts to force universities to comply with its political agenda.

In our news wrap Wednesday, the White House froze nearly $2 billion in federal funds meant for Cornell and Northwestern universities, federal judges in Texas and New York barred the Trump administration from deporting five Venezuelans jailed in those states for being alleged gang members and Beijing denied Ukrainian claims that Chinese citizens are fighting alongside Russia in its invasion.

Northwestern University now joins a growing list of colleges across the country to have its federal funding cut by the Trump administration as the government investigates alleged civil rights violations at universities across the country.

The federal government is investigating both schools for alleged civil-rights violations, as part of a rapidly expanding crackdown on elite research universities.

The federal government has frozen more than $1 billion in funding for Cornell and $790 million for Northwestern as both schools remain under investigation by the Department of Education.

The Trump administration has set its sights on influencing American colleges and universities by threatening their federal funding.

Demonstrators gather at an encampment where students are protesting in support of Palestinians, during the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, at Northwestern University campus in Evanston,

The moves are the latest in a campaign against elite universities that has resulted in more than $3.3 billion in federal funds being suspended or canceled.

Northwestern University now joins a growing list of colleges across the country to have its federal funding frozen by the Trump administration.