was basic to international human rights and recognized as applying to the Palestinian refugees by many United Nations resolutions, most notably, UN Resolution 194. The taskforce's goal was to raise public awareness of the right and its importance in creating Middle East peace and to coordinate advocacy efforts. In 2004 ADC signed on to a letter affirming the Palestinian Right of Return in response to President George W. Bush's declaration of support for the policies of Prime Minister of Israel, Ariel Sharon which allegedly denied that right. After the September 11 attacks, ADC concerned itself with “an unprecedented backlash in the form of hate crimes, discrimination and various civil liberties violations” against the Arab American community, as well as against Muslims. It also addressed the October 2001 passage of the Patriot Act which increased federal law enforcement surveillance abilities, eased restrictions on foreign intelligence gathering within the U.S., expanded regulation of financial transactions and enhanced law enforcement abilities to detain and deport immigrants merely suspected of some relation to terrorists. Under the Act law enforcement immediately targeted mainly Arab-Americans and South Asians, including “massive secret detentions,” selective enforcement through “voluntary” interviews, deportation of Middle Eastern men and further restrictions on immigration by Arabs and Muslims. In December 2001 ADC met with US Department of Justice representatives to express concerns about the Patriot Act. It was a signatory to a March 17, 2003 letter from a number of civil liberties and other organizations asking members of the U.S. Congress to oppose the leaked draft of the Domestic Security Enhancement Act of 2003 holding it contained "a multitude of new and sweeping law enforcement and intelligence gathering powers … that would severely dilute, if not undermine, many basic constitutional rights." Also known as “Patriot Act II,” it was not passed into law. In 2002 ADC joined a coalition of Muslim groups to sue then-Attorney General John Ashcroft and the Immigration and Naturalization Service for arrests and detention of immigrant men trying to register with federal authorities. In 2003 when then University of South Florida professor Sami Al-Arian was indicted on terrorism-related charges ADC issued a press release stating that a “pattern of profiling and targeting the community is of deep concern to ADC and we will continue to monitor the situation.” Speaking on CNN, then- communications director Hussein Ibish stated: "Until we have some reason based in fact to think otherwise, I