WASHINGTON: A federal appeals court in the United States has upheld the freeze on President Donald Trump’s travel ban, declaring that the president exceeded his lawful authority in suspending visas to residents of six Muslim countries.

The San Francisco-based Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, also rejected on Monday President Trump’s order to suspend the US refugee programme.

But US Attorney General Jeff Sessions said on Tuesday that he disagreed with the travel ban ruling because “President Trump’s executive order is well within his lawful authority.”

He said the Justice Department will continue to seek review of the travel ban injunctions from the Supreme Court.

“Recent attacks confirm that the threat to our nation is immediate and real. We must not place our nation at risk until we have the ability accurately and responsibly to vet those seeking entry here,” Mr Sessions said. “This is not about religion; it is about national security.”

The court, however, used Mr Trump’s own tweets to show that even the president considered his order a ban on a certain religious group.

“We conclude that the president, in issuing the Executive Order, exceeded the scope of the authority delegated to him by Congress,” the three judges wrote. “Immigration, even for the President, is not a one-person show.”

The judges cited President Trump’s latest tweets to explain why it decided to keep the freeze imposed by a lower court.

“That’s right, we need a TRAVEL BAN for certain DANGEROUS countries, not some politically correct term that won’t help us protect our people!” Mr Trump tweeted on June 5.

Published in Dawn, June 14th, 2017