KEY POINTS

  • Ban remains suspended after court of appeal refuses Trump administration request.
  • District Judge James Robart suspended the ban after four US states called ban 'un-American'.

Donald Trump's controversial travel ban on people from seven mainly-Muslim countries will remain suspended after a US court rejected his administration's appeal. The president wanted the ban to be reinstated after it was suspended on Friday (3 February).

The US federal appeals court refused the action after state lawyers said the executive order was unconstitutional. The White House and the states challenging the ban now have until Monday to present their arguments in a full hearing.

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The travel ban was one of the executive orders signed by Trump upon entering the Oval Office in January. It applied to people from Iraq, Syria, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen for 90 days and indefinitely suspended entry for Syrians.

The measures sparked waves of protests around the world against Trump's hard-line immigration policy.

Reacting to the news of the suspension last week, the president used Twitter to convey his anger at District Judge James Robart.

"What is our country coming to when a judge can halt a Homeland Security travel ban and anyone, even with bad intentions, can come into U.S.?

"The opinion of this so-called judge, which essentially takes law-enforcement away from our country, is ridiculous and will be overturned!"

He earlier said: "When a country is no longer able to say who can, and who cannot, come in & out, especially for reasons of safety &.security - big trouble!

"Interesting that certain Middle-Eastern countries agree with the ban. They know if certain people are allowed in it's death & destruction!"

Donald Trump