Trump ramps up criticism of judge after travel ban setback

US President Donald Trump has attacked the judge who blocked his travel ban, saying Americans should blame the courts “if something happens”.

Mr Trump also said he had instructed border officials to check people entering America “very carefully”.

The ban, affecting people from seven mainly-Muslim countries, was blocked by the federal judge in Seattle on Friday.

Saturday saw a federal appeals court reject the Trump administration’s request to reinstate the ban.

This means that Mr Trump’s directive will remain suspended and visa holders from Iraq, Syria, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen will be allowed to enter the US until the full case has been heard.

The justice department and two US states challenging the ban, Washington and Minnesota, have been asked to present more arguments.

In their latest submission to the appeals court, the two states says that lifting the suspension would “unleash chaos” and adversely affect their economies.

They also lodged a statement by a host of national security experts - including former secretaries of state John Kerry and Madeleine Albright, and former CIA director Leon Panetta - which describes the travel ban as ineffective, dangerous and counterproductive.

President Trump has ramped up his criticism of Judge James Robart, who blocked the ban, and the country’s judiciary.

In a series of tweets, Mr Trump said: “I have instructed Homeland Security to check people coming into our country VERY CAREFULLY. The courts are making the job very difficult!”

“Just cannot believe a judge would put our country in such peril. If something happens blame him and court system. People pouring in. Bad!”

The president had earlier called Judge Robart’s ruling “ridiculous”, describing him as a “so-called judge”.

US federal judge James Robart’s ruling is a temporary restraining order preventing elements of President Trump’s executive order being implemented in order to allow the two states time to mount a legal challenge to them.

Washington and Minnesota argue that the ban is unconstitutional and denied people with valid entry documents the right to travel without legal recourse. It also violated freedom of religion rights by appearing to target Muslims, they said.

The ruling suspends: the seven-country travel ban; the temporary refugee admissions ban; the reprioritisation of minority religion (interpreted to mean Christian) refugee claims; and the ban on Syrian refugees. The cap on overall US refugee admissions this year of 50,000 is not covered by the judge’s ruling.

In its appeal, the justice department said Judge Robart had overreached by “second guessing” the president on a national security matter.