Washington: US President Donald Trump has announced a total ban on citizens from a dozen countries entering the United States, and a partial ban on several more nations, in a move that partly revives a controversial measure from his first term.

Nationals of Afghanistan, Burma, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen will be banned from travelling to the US from Monday.

Trump cited the recent antisemitic firebombing in Boulder, Colorado – in which an Egyptian man unlawfully in the US allegedly injured 15 people – as part of the rationale for the move.

“We don’t want them,” Trump said in a recorded video.

“In the 21st century, we’ve seen one terror attack after another carried out by visa overstayers from dangerous places all over the world.

“Thanks to [former president Joe] Biden’s open door policies, today there are millions and millions of these illegals who should not be in our country.”

The proclamation signed by Trump on Wednesday evening (Thursday AEST) also announced a partial entry ban on citizens from Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan, and Venezuela.

Trump said the travel ban from his first term – which was also described as a “Muslim ban” for its targeting of Muslim majority countries – was one of his most successful policies, and had prevented terrorist attacks on American soil.

“We will not let what happened in Europe happen to America,” he said.