The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said on Monday that it plans to restructure its civil rights office, the agency’s law enforcement arm, to strengthen its efforts to fight Jew-hatred and to protect religious liberty rights.
Robert Kennedy Jr., the agency secretary, said that the department is restoring its division of “conscience and religious freedom,” which U.S. President Donald Trump established in January 2018 but which the Biden administration dissolved in March 2023.
The reorganization creates a “structure that rightly prioritizes civil rights and conscience and religious freedom alongside health information privacy and security,” stated Paula Stannard, director of the agency’s civil rights office.
The new structure will improve enforcement against Jew-hatred, anti-Christian bias and unlawful discrimination and will maintain existing operations for processing complaints, the department said.
