The Justice Department and Education Department have opened an investigation into whether Yale University illegally discriminates against Asian-American applicants, according to people familiar with the matter.

The investigation marks an escalation of the Trump administration’s efforts to challenge the longstanding consideration of race in the admissions decisions of elite colleges. Last year, the Justice Department opened a similar civil-rights investigation into whether Harvard University discriminates against Asian-American applicants.

The new probe into Yale is based on a complaint filed in 2016 with the Justice and Education departments by a group of Asian-American organizations, led by the Asian American Coalition for Education.

The complaint alleged Yale, Brown University and Dartmouth College were illegally discriminating against Asian-American applicants by treating them differently during the admissions process based on their race.

The complaint said Ivy League universities hold Asian-American applicants to a higher standard than students of other races and use an illegal quota to cap the number of admitted Asian-American students.