US officials say a paperwork shortage that prevented Chad from turning over a sample of a recent passport was one reason the African country was included in the Trump Administration’s latest travel ban.

Team Trump added Chad to a list of Muslim-majority countries in an order last month that a judge put on hold this week — even though Muslims outnumber Christians by a relatively small number in the central African nation, 55 percent to 40 percent.

And Chad’s inclusion was especially perplexing because the country cooperates closely with the US on counter-terrorism fighting Islamic extremists.

But all countries had been given 50 days to take several steps that included providing a recent passport sample.

Chad had run out of passport paper and couldn’t comply, and its offer to provide a pre-existing sample wasn’t acceptable to American authorities.

The Homeland Security department says there were other reasons Chad was added, and that the department is working with the country to resolve them.



With AP