A federal appeals court has rebuffed a bid by US President Donald Trump to resume a travel ban on refugees and travellers from seven Muslim-majority countries, dealing a fresh legal setback to the administration’s efforts to move forward with a controversial policy that Mr Trump claims is crucial to national security.

A three-judge panel from the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday affirmed a lower-court decision that froze the order’s implementation, in response to a lawsuit filed by the states of Washington and Minnesota arguing that the ban violated immigration law and the constitutional prohibition on discriminating against specific religions.

The court wrote: “(W)e hold that the Government has not shown a likelihood of success on the merits of its appeal, nor has it shown that failure to enter a stay would cause irreparable injury, and we therefore deny its emergency motion for a stay.”