District Court in Los Angeles alleging that the "pro-Israel" Anti-Defamation League (ADL) had spied on their political activities and shared information with police. They demanded ADL release its surveillance information and end its investigations, as well as be ordered to pay punitive damages. They also sued the police and sheriffs' departments of San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Diego. Then communications director Hussein Ibish stated that ADL was gathering information "systematically in a program whose clear intent was to undermine civil rights and Arab-American organizations." In 1999 ADL and the groups reached an agreement whereby ADL purged certain personal information held on the plaintiffs and agreed to pay $175,000 for the plaintiffs' legal fees and contribute $25,000 toward a community relations fund to advance good relations among Arabs, Jews and others. In 1996 the US Congress passed the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act, which increased the regulation of fund raising that might benefit alleged terrorists and made it easier to bar or deport those with suspected terrorist affiliations. It also passed the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act allowing deportation of immigrants for minor offenses, even those committed decades ago, and even if individuals had American spouses and/or children. It also allowed secret classified evidence and denial of bond for those under threat of deportation. ADC began campaigns to contest these laws and even dilute or overturn them through legal action. One lawsuit by Arabs claiming they were targeted for deportation because of affiliations with an unpopular political group, in violation of their First and Fifth Amendment, reached the Supreme Court, in Reno v. American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee . While the ruling cast doubt on the role of secret evidence, many observers interpreted it as restricting First Amendment rights of all non-citizens, including legal immigrants. 2000 to present In 2000 ADC supported a congressional letter to President Bill Clinton, signed by 68 members of congress, calling for economic sanctions against the people of Iraq to be lifted. ADC's press release noted that the United Nations estimated that over one million civilians, mostly children, had died from malnutrition and disease due to the embargo. In July 2001 ADC announced the creation of a “Right of Return” Taskforce supporting Palestinian refugees “right to return to their original homes, have their property restored to them and receive compensation for any losses incurred as a result of displacement or dispossession.” ADC asserted this