Just before taking the final step of the US naturalization process, two Massachusetts residents prepared to pledge allegiance to the United States were asked to step out of line at an oath ceremony last week, an immigrant services group said.

Four people who have been in the country lawfully for years and fulfilled every requirement on their path to US citizenship had their oath ceremonies at Faneuil Hall canceled Thursday by US Citizenship and Immigration Services officials, said Gail Breslow, executive director of Project Citizenship, which helps people across New England with their citizenship applications. The four people were all clients of the group.

At least two people were told to step out of line after they arrived at the ceremony, according to the group’s associate director, Marissa Rodriguez.

The reason for their removal appeared to be that they were originally from countries the Trump administration has labeled “high-risk,” pausing all immigration applications from those nations. “Officers were asking what country people were from, and they were told to step out of line and that their ceremony had been canceled,” Breslow said Monday.

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All told, more than 20 of Breslow’s clients have had their oath ceremonies canceled through early next year — and many more cancellations will likely follow, she said.

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People from the following 19 countries are being told their citizenship ceremonies are canceled: Afghanistan, Burundi, Chad, Congo, Cuba, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Laos, Libya, Myanmar, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sudan, Togo, Turkmenistan, Venezuela, and Yemen.

Citizenship interviews and other steps that come earlier in the naturalization process are also being canceled, Breslow said.