Extending the temporary restraining order until the state’s lawsuit was resolved would ensure the constitutional rights of Muslim citizens across the US were protected after the “repeated stops and starts of the last two months”, the state said.

The government said the ban fell within the president’s power to protect national security. Hawaii had made only generalised concerns about its effect on students and tourism, department of justice attorney Chad Readler told the judge via telephone.

The Trump administration had asked Watson to narrow his original ruling to cover only the part of Trump’s revised executive order that suspends new visas for people from six Muslim-majority countries. Readler said a freeze on the US refugee program had no effect on Hawaii.