WASHINGTON — As the world processed the impact of President Donald Trump's immigration and visa orders Saturday, tens of thousands of Canadian citizens — possibly including the country's immigration minister — were told they were suddenly barred from entering Canada's closest neighbor and ally.

Trump's executive action signed Friday bans citizens of seven predominantly Muslim countries from entering the United States for 90 days, even if they are also citizens of another nation. Trump's actions on Friday also suspended the entire US refugee program for four months and indefinitely halted the resettlement of Syrian refugees.

The bans caused mass confusion on Saturday as dual citizens and governments across the globe tried to assess the full impact of Trump's actions on international travel and immigration systems.

But in a statement released late Saturday night, a spokesperson for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the White House had reassured his office that Canadians would not be affected by the ban after all.

"I understand that the press gallery, like the Canadian public, is seeking clarity on the executive order issued by President Trump," wrote PMO spokesperson Kate Purchase. "Senior officials have been working to seek clarity for Canadians from the US Department of Homeland Security and ‎US Department of Transportation, amongst other counterparts."

Purchase said Daniel Jean, Trudeau's national security advisor, had been in touch with his American counterpart, Michael Flynn, throughout the day "to seek further clarification."

"NSA Flynn confirmed that holders of Canadian passports, including dual citizens, will not be affected by the ban," Purchase said. "We have been assured that Canadian citizens travelling on Canadian passport will be dealt with ‎in the usual process."

The PMO did not immediately say why Canadians sharing citizenship with one of the seven barred countries will be excluded from the ban.

There were 35,000 Canadians who shared citizenship with Iran, Iraq, Syria, Somalia, Sudan, Libya or Yemen in 2011, according to Statistics Canada data. Another 75,000 people born in those countries live in Canada but are not full Canadian citizens.

Those numbers all come from the 2011 census and would all-but-certainly be higher today. The 2016 census data will start to be released next month.

One person who was thought to be potentially affected by the travel ban was Ahmed Hussen, who was appointed Canada's minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship earlier this month. Hussen came to Canada as a Somali refugee in 1993. He eventually became a lawyer and human rights activist before being elected as a member of Parliament in 2015.

Earlier on Saturday, the Prime Minister's Office told BuzzFeed News it was "not concerned about the ability of the Minister to travel." But it was unclear whether Hussen would only be able to travel to the US using a diplomatic passport while on government business.

As news of Trump's bans spread Saturday, Hussen tweeted from a citizenship ceremony he was attending.

