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The Justice Department will investigate whether a planned real estate development around one of North Texas's largest mosques violates federal law, Sen. John Cornyn (R) said Friday after weeks of calling the project antisemitic and anti-Christian.
Attacks over the development outside Dallas have been amplified by Cornyn, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R), Gov. Greg Abbott and right-wing bloggers who baselessly claim it would create a Muslim-only community and impose Islamic law on residents.
Leaders for the East Plano Islamic Center, the mosque that is backing the project dubbed EPIC City, have repeatedly denied the accusations and called the attacks on their planned development Islamophobic. If built, EPIC City would span about 400 acres and create housing, day care facilities, medical clinics and schools, according to marketing material.
"I am grateful to Attorney General Bondi and the Department of Justice for hearing my concerns and opening an investigation," Cornyn said in a statement. "Religious discrimination and Sharia Law have no place in the Lone Star State. Any violations of federal law must be swiftly prosecuted, and I know under the Trump administration, they will be."
Dan Cogdell, an attorney for EPIC City, said the development would cooperate with the federal investigation, noting that the Muslim community behind the project had nothing to hide.
"From day one, their intention was to comply completely and wholeheartedly with the law," said Cogdell, who defended Paxton during the Republican firebrand's 2023 impeachment trial. "And they've just been vilified, assailed and attacked."
Cogdell added, "What is crazy to me is how far we haven't come since 9/11. The words 'mosque,' 'Islam,' 'Muslim' in the year of our Lord 2025 are still such a triggering event."
The Justice Department did not respond to a request for comment.
EPIC City was announced about a year ago, according to its social media pages. Developers said they would use empty land in Josephine, Texas, northeast of Dallas, to build a "vibrant, multigenerational, and inclusive master planned community."
As EPIC City was selling shares and building out its plans, none of which featured materials that required residents to be Muslim, an uproar by conservatives overshadowed the project. Cogdell said the first incidents came from right-wing accounts on X, which caught the attention of senior Republican leaders in Texas.
In late March, EPIC City was slammed with a flurry of investigations. Abbott opened three inquiries looking into "potential criminal activities," discrimination in violation of the Texas Fair Housing Act and any potential "financial harm on Texas." Paxton began an investigation into whether EPIC City violated Texas consumer protection laws.
The scrutiny intensified in April when Abbott ordered that EPIC City cease all construction, saying that the development "did not submit the required permits to begin construction." Cogdell said the project was in a "pre-planning stage" and was in the process of obtaining building permits.
"We're getting the applications for the permits," Cogdell said. "Of course, in the meantime, we've got to comply with this document request or this motion to compel or this threat letter."
Cornyn wrote to the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division on April 11 requesting an additional investigation into the project that he said was an "exclusive religious settlement" governed by "Islamic principles."
The letter drew condemnation from the Council on American-Islamic Relations, which sent a letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi opposing a federal investigation.
"Senator Cornyn's false claims are not supported by any facts," the letter read. "Across the United States, faith-based communities, including Christian senior centers and Orthodox Jewish neighborhoods, exist without facing similar scrutiny. Muslim-led developments must be treated equally under the law."
EPIC City also issued its own response to the upheaval, writing in an April 5 Facebook post that it was elected officials who were spreading "isolation and exclusivity." In response, dozens of commenters wrote on the social media post that the development wasn't welcome in America.
Cogdell said EPIC City will continue pursuing its plans.
"They're spending more on lawyers than they ever thought they would need," Cogdell said of his clients at East Plano Islamic Center. "They are committed to making sure this project gets done, and we'll do everything we can to comply with the law - for the 1,000th time."
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