The White House Office of Management and Budget today rescinded a memorandum that froze federal grants and loans and created widespread confusion this week.

White House spokeswoman Caroline Leavitt said today that the memorandum from the US Office of Management and Budget freezing federal loans and other aid has been rescinded, but that the freeze itself remains in effect.

The freeze was announced on Monday and blocked by a federal court on Tuesday.

"This is not a change to the federal funding freeze. It is simply a change to the U.S. Office of Management and Budget memorandum," Leavitt wrote in X.

"President Donald Trump's executive order on federal funds remains in effect and will be strictly enforced," she added.

The White House budget office had ordered a halt to federal grants and loans, according to an internal memo sent Monday, which caused anxiety even though the White House said it was not as sweeping an order as it seemed.

"OMB Memorandum M-25-13 has been rescinded. If you have questions regarding the implementation of the President's Executive Orders, please contact your agency's General Counsel," a new memo obtained by CNN states.

Although White House aides publicly blamed the media for causing the confusion, arguing that none existed inside the building, the administration had received many calls from lawmakers and state officials with questions about its impact in their states.

Trump said Wednesday that the purpose of temporarily freezing funding for some non-essential programs is to provide the government with sufficient time to determine whether there is any case of fraudulent, wasteful or unjustified spending of public funds. He said the order stopped the payment of $1.7 billion to foreign organizations.

The ruling by U.S. District Judge Loren Ali Khan represents a victory for nonprofits that said cutting off funding would be devastating for tens of millions of Americans who depend on that money for much-needed services.

Meanwhile, the White House announced that Trump would order the deportation of pro-Palestinian student protesters, suggesting that his effort to curb immigration would target people based on their political views.

The White House added that Trump will sign an executive order that will revoke visas for students and other non-US citizens who participated in anti-Israel protests that erupted on campuses last year.

"We will find you and we will expel you," Trump, who has supported Israel in its fight against Hamas, said in a statement.

Trump's effort to curb immigration has so far focused on deporting immigrants who have no legal basis to stay in the U.S., and if the new order is implemented, it will also affect people who are in the country legally.