Claims ‘community of thousands of Muslims could violate constitutional rights of Jewish and Christian Texans’
A United States senator from Texas wants federal prosecutors to investigate a proposed Muslim-led community development for possible religious discrimination against Christians and other faith groups.
In a letter dated April 11 to Attorney General Pam Bondi and Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon, U.S. Senator John Cornyn, R-Texas, urged the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to investigate the East Plano Islamic Center (EPIC) for its plans to build a “community of thousands of Muslims” known as EPIC Ranches City.
Since a marketing campaign was launched last month, the 402-acre project has raised concerns from Cornyn and state officials, including Gov. Greg Abbott and Attorney General Ken Paxton, about violations of federal and state laws. Meanwhile, Muslim advocacy groups have decried the scrutiny as discriminatory, calling for a federal investigation into Texas officials’ actions.
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In his letter, Cornyn warned the proposed development could infringe on the constitutional rights of Christians and other non-Muslims. “A master-planned ‘community of thousands of Muslims’ could violate the constitutional rights of Jewish and Christian Texans, by preventing them from living in this new community and discriminating against them within the community,” he wrote.
Cornyn argued that the development could violate the Fair Housing Act of 1968, which prohibits discrimination in housing based on religion, race, or national origin, and urged the DOJ to examine whether Christians, Jews, and other non-Muslim minorities would receive “equal protection under the law” in the community, emphasizing that “religious discrimination, whether explicit or implicit, is unconstitutional under the First and Fourteenth Amendments.”
The 73-year-old senator described the project’s scope as a “thriving ecosystem” of thousands of homes, a mosque, a private Islamic school, commercial developments, a community college and sports facilities. He expressed concern over statements from Community Capital Partners, EPIC’s for-profit affiliate, suggesting that home sales would be restricted to buyers who “contribute to the overall makeup of [the] community.” Although the developer later revised this language following inquiries from The Dallas Morning News, Cornyn called the changes “stealth edits” that “create an impression of potential discrimination.”
He suggested that EPIC might be attempting to create an “exclusive religious settlement” governed by Islamic principles, potentially violating federal prohibitions on religious-based discrimination. Cornyn also called for an investigation into whether the project adheres to laws banning the enforcement of Sharia law, stating, “Appropriate steps should be taken to ensure that this community does not run afoul of these obligations.”
Paxton, who announced earlier this month that he plans to challenge the four-term Cornyn for his seat in next year’s primary, also announced Monday that he is expanding his investigation into the EPIC project by issuing records requests to officials in the North Texas cities of Plano, Richardson, Wylie and Josephine.
The requests, according to Paxton’s office, seek communications between local leaders and EPIC, prompted by claims from Yasir Qadhi, an Islamic scholar tied to EPIC City, of support from municipal officials.
“If any local official is supporting or communicating with a real estate development that is under investigation for potential violations of state law, then it’s imperative that we are made aware of exactly what’s being communicated,” Paxton stated. “We will thoroughly review these documents as part of our ongoing investigation into EPIC City and work to hold accountable anyone who breaks Texas law.”
Cornyn’s call for a federal investigation drew criticism from the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), which labeled Cornyn’s request “baseless and bigoted.” In an April 14 letter to the DOJ, CAIR urged the department to reject Cornyn’s call for an investigation and instead probe Texas officials for allegedly violating Muslims’ constitutional rights through “zoning harassment, discriminatory enforcement, and politically motivated intimidation.”
CAIR-TX, DFW Executive Director Mustafaa Carroll, defended the EPIC project as “a transparent, inclusive initiative to provide affordable housing and community services to families of all backgrounds.” He accused Cornyn of enabling Abbott and Paxton to “abuse the regulatory process to intimidate and suppress our community’s religious rights.” CAIR’s Robert S. McCaw added, “Senator Cornyn’s request is not only factually baseless. It weaponizes tired Islamophobic tropes to portray a peaceful, inclusive development project as suspicious simply because it is Muslim-led.”
The letter emphasized that EPIC Ranches City welcomes people of all backgrounds and mirrors religious-led developments by Christian and Jewish groups, which often proceed without similar scrutiny, and warned that Corny’s DOJ request “invokes a widely discredited Islamophobic trope” concerning Islamic religious law known as “sharia.”
“This claim is not grounded in reality,” the letter stated. “There is no basis in fact to suggest that EPIC, or any Muslim-led entity, has the authority or intent to enforce religious law over others. Like halakha in Judaism or canon law in Catholicism, sharia provides Muslims with moral guidance in matters of worship, charity, business ethics, and daily conduct. It is not a criminal code and poses no threat to American law.”
CAIR further argued that Texas officials’ actions might violate the First and Fourteenth Amendments and the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA), calling for a DOJ investigation into the state’s conduct.
Earlier this month, the development project hired prominent attorney Dan Cogdell to help navigate mounting scrutiny. Cogdell defended the project, calling it a “victim of racial profiling.”
