EXCLUSIVE — Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) is asking the Department of Justice to open a civil rights investigation into a proposed Muslim-focused community development in Josephine, Texas.
In a letter to the Justice Department sent Friday, Cornyn asks the agency to investigate whether the community, which would cater to Texas’s Muslim population, would violate the constitutional rights of Jewish and Christian residents by prohibiting them from living in the community and discriminating against them.
“Religious discrimination, whether explicit or implicit, is unconstitutional under the First and Fourteenth Amendments. Religious freedom is a cornerstone of our nation’s values, and I am concerned this community potentially undermines this vital protection,” Cornyn wrote to Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon.
The proposed development, which is led by the East Plano Islamic Center, has been the subject of deep scrutiny, with Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Attorney General Ken Paxton launching several state investigations into the project.
The proposed community development would feature single-family lots, townhomes, apartments, a mosque, a K-12 faith-based school, elderly and assisted living, and a community college, among other things.
East Plano Islamic Center’s proposed 402-acre development has divided the community, with an over four-hour meeting at Collin County Commissioner Court earlier this month featuring residents both for and against the project.
“I have very grave concerns about the EPIC City project. First of all, under the Civil Rights Act of 1866, all citizens of the United States have the same right to purchase, lease, sell, hold, and convey real estate. Under the Civil Rights Act of 1968, known as the Fair Housing Act, Congress passed a law prohibiting discrimination in housing based on race, color, national origin, or religion,” Texas resident Brandon Burder said.
But another resident, Dylan Evans, advocated the project, saying, “These individuals deserve treatment and real representation. We must advocate for an inclusive Texas.”
The project’s developers claimed in a statement to the Dallas Morning News that the organization will adhere to the Fair Housing Act. They said it will not “enforce blanket bans on any group of people, but we will conduct thorough individualized assessments of prospective buyers to ensure they align with our goals of safety and security.”
Still, Cornyn noted in his letter that a change in language used by the city’s developers to advertise the project after questioning by the Dallas Morning News is a point of concern.
The project’s website originally stated that it would “limit sales to only persons we believe will contribute to the overall makeup of our community and are legally eligible to invest and buy property in the United States.”
However, after questioning from the Dallas Morning News, the developers told the outlet it would change the language to “more accurately” communicate their intent.
The website was then updated to read that the developer’s vision was “to build a diverse and inclusive community — one in which people of every background, faith, and culture can live together in harmony. We will uphold the safety and well-being of our neighbors at every step of development, starting with thorough individualized assessments of prospective buyers to ensure they align with our goals of safety and security. We look forward to working together to foster mutual understanding, respect, and collaboration as our project moves forward.”
But Cornyn wrote that the “stealth edits, only in response to questions, create an impression of potential discrimination.”
“I am concerned that the Center, through its for profit affiliated entity, is attempting to create an enclave that will discriminate on the basis of religion, and, further, is hiding this intent from the public,” Cornyn wrote.
At the heart of the debate is also whether the community would institute sharia law, an allegation the project’s developers and high-profile attorney Dan Cogdell have vehemently denied.
“To have people who are of a different faith than some folks to be basically terrorized because of false information put out by the governor is an insult,” Cogdell said during a press conference on April 3. “It’s a shame, and it needs to stop.”
Abbott has posted several times on social media advocating against the city development, saying in a post on Feb. 24 that “To be clear, Sharia law is not allowed in Texas. Nor are Sharia cities.”
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Cornyn, in his letter to the DOJ, also expressed concerns about the allegations of sharia law, writing that it “may also be appropriate for an investigation to explore whether the proponents of the proposed development are abiding by existing federal and state prohibitions on the enforcement of sharia law.”
The proposed city development has not yet started or been submitted to Collin County for review. Representatives of the development told Dallas Morning News that the project is still in the planning phase, and that “No permit applications or paperwork have been filed and no construction has started.”
