WASHINGTON, DC, USA (AP) — The head of a leading international relief organisation has condemned President Donald Trump’s revised US travel ban, saying there is no national security justification for its “catastrophic” cut in refugee admissions.

David Miliband leads the International Rescue Committee and says the ban announced yesterday targets “the most vulnerable, most vetted population that is entering the United States”.

Trump’s order suspends the US refugee programme for 120 days, though refugees already formally scheduled for travel by the State Department will be allowed entry. When the suspension is lifted, the number of refugees allowed into the US will be capped at 50,000 for fiscal year 2017.

Speaking to The Associated Press in Beirut, Miliband called the move a “historic assault on refugee resettlement to the United States, and a really catastrophic cut at a time there are more refugees around the world than ever before”.

Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson, who successfully challenged Trump’s initial travel ban in court, said he was taking a serious look at the new version issued yesterday.

In an e-mailed statement, Ferguson said the president “has capitulated on numerous key provisions blocked by our lawsuit”. They include banning legal permanent residents, visa holders and dual citizens from entering the country, as well as explicit preferences, based on religion.

Washington and Minnesota won legal challenges to the original travel ban last month when the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals refused to reinstate the order after a lower court blocked it. The court rulings allowed refugees and people travelling from the seven countries on the list to enter the United States on previously issued visas.

However, House Speaker Paul Ryan said he was backing the updated version of President Donald Trump’s contentious travel ban, which bars new visas for citizens from six Muslim-majority countries and shuts down the US refugee programme.

The White House has dropped Iraq from the list of targeted countries, which include Iran, Syria, Somalia, Sudan, Yemen and Libya.

During the 2016 presidential campaign, the Wisconsin Republican condemned Donald Trump’s proposed ban on Muslims entering the United States. But in a statement yesterday, Ryan said Trump’s revised executive order advances “our shared goal” of protecting the United States.

Ryan also commended Trump administration officials for “their hard work on this measure to improve our vetting standards”.

Trump’s critics say the focus on predominantly Muslim countries will leave the impression the order is effectively a ban on Muslims.

According to the White House, the revised travel ban signed by President Trump yesterday aims to address legal issues with the original order, which caused confusion at airports, sparked protests around the country and was ultimately blocked by federal courts.

The revised order is narrower and specifies that a 90-day ban on people from Sudan, Syria, Iran, Libya, Somalia and Yemen does not apply to those who already have valid visas.