PRESIDENT Donald Trump is expected to sign a new executive order on a travel ban this week targeting travellers from certain Middle Eastern and African countries.

He is expected to sign the order as soon as Monday, an administration official at the Department of Homeland Security told CNN.

2 Donald Trump is expected to sign a new executive order on a travel ban this week targeting travellers from certain Middle Eastern and African countries Credit: Getty Images

The official cautioned that timing of the official signing could change, but confirmed he is planning to sign an updated order.

Trump was scheduled to sign the order last Wednesday but pushed it back in order to give the order "it's own 'moment'", according to officials.

CNN reported Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Secretary of Defence James Mattis and national security adviser H.R. McMaster all advocated for the ban on travel from Iraq to be removed for diplomatic reasons, including Iraq's role in fighting ISIS.

The final position of the White House on this is currently unclear, as is the list of countries affected by the latest order.

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Trump's original January 27 order was widely criticised and slammed for the lack of warning to the public or preparation of the agencies tasked with enforcing it.

The order, which temporarily barred people from seven Muslim-majority countries from travelling to the United States for 90 days, as well as all refugees for 120 days and Syrian refugees permanently, triggered worldwide outrage as well as protests in the United States.

2 Trump was scheduled to sign the order last Wednesday but pushed it back in order to give the order "it's own 'moment'" Credit: Getty Images

It also caused chaos in the first days of its implementation as people arriving at US airports from targeted countries were detained and sometimes sent back to where they came from.

The ban gave preference to accept Christian refugees from the Middle East over Muslim asylum seekers, and there was confusion among Homeland Security officials about how the ban affected citizens from the seven barred countries who hold valid US green cards.

The order was halted after two judicial setbacks - a nationwide freeze on Trump's ban by a US district judge in Seattle and a subsequent ruling by San Francisco's Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upholding the suspension.

It has been rumoured for some time the President would replace the consecutive order to avoid getting tied up in "time-consuming litigation" after the first ban was blocked.

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