Because a majority of these countries were predominantly Muslim cultures, the American Civil Liberties Union said the program unjustly targeted individuals based on religion.
[8] However, by 1 December 2016, "[n]o known terrorism convictions resulted from the program," according to a letter from some Democratic Members of Congress and New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman.
NSEERS was probed in the documentary film "Aliens Among Us", by Martina Radwan, for the effect it had on immigrant families of Arab origin.
The Department of Homeland Security website said, "Because the Secretary of Homeland Security's authority under the NSEERS regulations is broader than the manual information flow based on country designation that has now ended, the underlying NSEERS regulation will remain in place in the event a special registration program is again needed.
"[18] On November 22, 2016, the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee submitted a letter co-signed by nearly 200 organizations to President Barack Obama, calling on his administration to rescind the regulatory framework behind the NSEERS.
The letter reads in part, "As organizations that represent diverse communities and that are committed to civil and immigrant rights, we firmly believe that removal of the NSEERS framework is a necessary imperative.
[20] The removal order occurred after New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman wrote, "We can't risk giving President-elect Trump the tools to create an unconstitutional religious registry.
This procedure was required of males over the age of sixteen who entered the United States legally on particular types of visa (primarily student, work, and tourist) from certain countries.