Iraq to be struck from new US travel directive – report

US President Donald Trump later today is set to strike Iraq from a list of countries whose citizens are banned from entering the US, a White House source confirms to Reuters.

The source is quoted as saying that the other Middle Eastern and Muslim-majority countries on the original list — Yemen, Syria, Iran, Sudan, and Libya — will remain under a 90-day travel ban.

The new guidelines are being issued after the courts blocked the original ones.

According to the official, Iraq was removed because Baghdad had begun imposing its own procedures for vetting travelers, and because of Iraq’s efforts, alongside the US, to target the Islamic State group.

The report also says the new ban — as opposed to the old one — will not affect the tens of thousands of green card-holders from those countries.

The new order will also erase the distinction between refugees from Syria, who were originally banned indefinitely, and other countries, banning them all for 120 days, the official tells Reuters.