Immigration advocates are pushing for leniency for men fighting immigration cases stemming from a controversial post-9/11 registration program, now that the program has been scrapped.

The National Security Entry-Exit Registration System (NSEERS), launched in 2002, demanded special registration from immigrants from 27, mostly Arab, and Muslim countries, in an effort to find terrorists.

Of the 80,000 men who registered, 13,000 were put into deportation proceedings, mostly for immigration violations. Advocates estimate that hundreds of those cases are unresolved, and that hundreds more men are fighting for immigration benefits denied due to not registering.

The Department of Homeland Security suspended NSEERS on April 27, 2011, saying it had been eclipsed by new methods of collecting information about all U.S. visitors, regardless of their nationalities.

"The notice relieves citizens and nationals of the designated countries from NSEERS requirements," said lawyers from the American Immigration Lawyers Association. "But left unclear is how individuals who face NSEERS-related charges are to be treated." They called on DHS to exercise favorable discretion towards those individuals, and to end removal proceedings against "the victims of the NSEERS mess."

"We look forward to working with DHS to ensure that favorable discretion is exercised," echoed several advocacy groups, including the Arab American Institute in Washington, D.C. DHS reportedly said it would address each case individually. Requests for comment were not returned by press time.

The program's end came after sustained protests from civil rights groups, who said NSEERS amounted to racial profiling and destroyed trust between immigrants and law enforcement agencies.

Advocates also deplored the program's chaotic mishaps, such as the 700 Iranian men reportedly detained in California because the immigration office was overwhelmed with registrants, or the men reportedly put into deportation proceedings due to out-of-date immigration databases. "Young men, students, who had changed academic programs and had, therefore, requested a change in their status or others who had married and had a change in status pending—all of whom were arbitrarily found to be deportable," said the Arab American Institute. Fear of being detained prompted hundreds of men to flee, the U.S. advocates say.

No terrorists were identified though the program, and DHS says it will now seek to identify "specific threats rather than focusing on more general designation of groups of individuals, such as country of origin." The US-VISIT program, launched in 2004, collects finger scans and digital photographs of most U.S. visitors. Passenger and crew information is also collected by DHS from incoming and outgoing airplanes and ships.

"Subjecting nationals from designated countries to a special registration process that manually recaptures data already collected through automated systems is redundant and does not provide any increase in security," DHS said.

All countries have been removed from the list of those whose nationals have to comply with NSEERS. However, the program will remain in place "in the event a special registration program is again needed," said Margo Schlanger of the DHS civil rights office, in an April 27 letter to stakeholders.

For the families of those already deported, the program's suspension was little comfort.

"It's good to hear such news, but at the same time too much damage has been done and needs to be rectified," said Sultana Jahangir Alam, a member of New York-based advocacy group DRUM (Desis Rising Up & Moving). Her husband was deported after he complied with NSEERS. "My family was forced to leave our home in the U.S. where my daughters were born," she said.