On Thursday, a U.S. court in the capital, Washington, ruled that the U.S. Department of State cannot deny visas to a group of immigrants based on the travel ban imposed by President Donald Trump this year on several countries around the world.

The American newspaper Politico explained that the ruling was issued in response to a "lawsuit filed in July on behalf of individuals from Afghanistan, Burma, Togo, Somalia, and Iran who had won the right to apply for visas under the so-called Diversity Visa Program (the U.S. visa lottery)."

The decision applies only to a specific group of up to 82 "potential immigrants and comes with an important caveat that immigration authorities are still permitted to deny foreign citizens entry into the United States by refusing their admission at the point of entry or instructing airline officials to prevent them from boarding," according to the American newspaper.

Last June, U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order that completely or partially bans travel to the United States for citizens of approximately twenty countries across three continents, some of which are Arab countries, justifying the move as necessary to protect the national security of the United States from various threats, including "foreign terrorists."

The White House clarified in a statement that Trump decided to impose a comprehensive ban on citizens of 12 countries "that (government reports found) have inadequate screening and vetting procedures and pose a high risk to the United States. These countries are: Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen."

The statement added that the presidential order "imposes partial restrictions on the entry of citizens from 7 additional countries that also pose a high risk to the United States. These countries are: Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan, and Venezuela."