Do you remember which law was cited by Erik Kleinsmith, the guy who claimed that he was the one who deleted the info? I think it was a statute that limited the retention of info on civilians to 90 days. This seems to be totally in opposition to the EO 12333.
It was the law that limited retention of information on "US persons" which he took pains to explain also included people here on visas. What the name of the law is, I'm afraid I don't remember.