Trump pledges to reimpose Muslim 'travel ban' if re-elected

Donald Trump used a speech to a Republican Jewish convention on Saturday to promise reimposition of a controversial travel ban that targeted a slew of mostly Muslim countries if he gets re-elected.

"You remember the travel ban? On day one I will restore our travel ban," he said.

At the start of his presidency in 2017, Trump imposed sweeping restrictions on the entry of travellers from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria, Yemen and, initially, Iraq and Sudan. The order was quickly challenged in court as discriminatory against a religious group, but the bans, along with Trump's hard-line anti-immigration agenda, were popular with his base.

President Joe Biden reversed the ban in his first week in office in 2021.

Biden "was proud to overturn the vile, un-American Muslim ban enacted by his predecessor," a White House spokesman said.

The former US leader was among several Republican hopefuls lining up at the gathering of influential Jewish donors to pledge unwavering support for Israel in its war against Hamas.

Trump told the event, held in Las Vegas, in the southwestern state of Nevada, that he would "defend our friend and ally in the State of Israel like nobody has ever."