The United States has included North Korea, Venezuela and Chad to its controversial list of countries banned from entering the U.S.
According to the White House, the restrictions follow a review of information sharing by foreign governments.
U.S. President issued the proclamation on Sunday and tweeted same on his handle @RealDonaldTrump.
“Making America safe is my number one priority. We will not admit those into our country we cannot safely vet,” Mr. Trump said.
The restriction on Venezuelans applies only to government officials and their family members as ordinary citizens from Venezuela were free to travel.
The three new countries join five others from Mr. Trump’s original travel ban: Iran, Libya, Syria, Yemen, and Somalia.
The new proclamation however removed restrictions that were placed on Sudan.
Mr. Trump’s original ban was highly controversial, as it affected six majority-Muslim countries, and was widely labelled a “Muslim ban.”
It was subject to a range of legal challenges and several large-scale protests, and is due to be considered by the US Supreme Court in October, having been partly reinstated in July.
The American Civil Liberties Union rights group said the addition of the new countries “doesn’t obfuscate the real fact that the administration’s order is still a Muslim ban.”
The addition of North Korea and Venezuela now means not all nations on the list are majority-Muslim.
The criteria for the new ban list is now based on vetting procedures and co-operation, and the restrictions have now been “tailored” on a country-by-country basis:
The White House said North Korea did not co-operate with the US government “in any respect” and failed all requirements – and so all travel to the US by its citizens has been banned.
Chad, while an important counter-terrorism partner, did not share terrorism-related and other public information the US required – business and tourist visas for its nationals are suspended.
