Donald Trump: Americans are in favour of travel ban

Donald Trump has asserted he has popular support for his travel ban and claimed polls which suggest otherwise "are fake news".

The President is fighting to restore the controversial executive order, which was halted after a ruling by federal judge James Robert.

On Sunday, an appeal court denied a formal request by the US Department of Justice to lift the suspension on the ban, which temporarily blocked all refugees and citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the US.

Mr Trump's administration has until 3pm on Monday (11pm GMT) to file more arguments before a final decision is made.

Hitting out a CNN poll which suggested 53% of Americans were opposed to the measure, Mr Trump tweeted: "Any negative polls are fake news, just like the CNN, ABC, NBC polls in the election.

"Sorry, people want border security and extreme vetting.

He added: "I call my own shots, largely based on an accumulation of data, and everyone knows it. Some FAKE NEWS media, in order to marginalize, lies!"

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Mr Trump's comments came as a group of prominent Democrats, including former secretaries of state John Kerry and Madeleine Albright, called for a federal appeals court to uphold its suspension of the travel ban.

In a brief submitted to the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, the officials described the executive order as "ill-conceived, poorly implemented and ill-explained".

The group, which also includes ex-national security adviser Susan Rice and former Homeland Security chief Janet Napolitano, also argued that the ban feeds Islamic State propaganda that the US is at war with Islam.

They said: "We view the order as one that ultimately undermines the national security of the United States, rather than making us safer.

"Reinstating the executive order would wreak havoc on innocent lives and deeply held American values."

It follows another brief jointly submitted to the court by 97 companies, mostly from the US tech industry.

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The firms - which include Apple, Facebook, Google, Microsoft and Twitter - said Mr Trump's executive order "inflicts significant harm on American business, innovation, and growth".

They added the measure "departs dramatically from the principles that have governed our immigration law for decades".