The U.S. Department of Justice has concluded its civil rights investigation into EPIC City, a proposed Muslim-centric residential development north of the Dallas metroplex.
A letter dated June 13 from Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon, first obtained by The Dallas Morning News, stated the DOJ is “closing its investigation at this time” based on information and responses gathered from Community Capital Partners (CCP), a for-profit group tied to the East Plano Islamic Center (EPIC), which is leading the project.
In the letter addressed to Steve Holms of SettlePou, a Texas-based law firm representing CCP, Dhillon confirmed CCP “has purchased the 402-acre undeveloped pasture in Collin and Hunt Counties, but has not yet sought any permits to develop the property, which is still in the planning stage.”
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Developers expect the permitting process for a residential development to begin in July or August “but believe that full development may take several years.”
Dhillon added that EPIC City will not, as stated earlier this year, be a “Muslim-only” compound but will be inclusive for all. “CCP has affirmed that all will be welcome in any future development, and that you plan to revise and develop marketing materials to reinforce that message consistent with your obligations under the Fair Housing Act,” she wrote.
The letter concludes, “Based on this information, the Department is closing its investigation at this time.” No lawsuits or charges were filed in response to the investigation.
Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) National Executive Director Nihad Awad celebrated the DOJ’s announcement.
“We welcome the dropping of this investigation and hope the DOJ’s actions send a clear message to the governor and other officials in Texas that they should similarly drop their Islamophobic witch hunt targeting Muslims in that state,” said Awad. “Elected officials should respect the Constitution and serve all state residents instead of abusing their authority to discriminate against Muslims.”
U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, raised concerns in April about the EPIC development, pointing to earlier marketing language on CCP’s website for EPIC City that suggested sales might be limited to “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.”
In his letter, Cornyn warned that 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.
The senator 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.
EPIC City, planned for a 402-acre site 40 miles northeast of downtown Dallas, envisions a vibrant community with over 1,000 homes, a mosque, a K-12 faith-based school, apartments, retail shops, clinics, a community college, elderly and assisted living facilities, and sports fields. The project, which is still in its early planning stages, has completed traffic, flood, and environmental studies but has not yet submitted its development plans.
