The Department of Justice has opened an investigation into EPIC City, a proposed Muslim community in Texas, according to Sen. John Cornyn, who requested the probe. 

"I am grateful to Attorney General Bondi and the Department of Justice for hearing my concerns and opening an investigation into the proposed EPIC City development in North Texas," the Texas Republican said in a statement shared with Newsmax Friday.

"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," he said.

EPIC City is a proposed development by the East Plano Islamic Center (EPIC), which plans to build almost 1,000 homes, a mosque, and a faith-based primary school on 400 acres of land in Josephine, Texas.

The development has been protested by not only Cornyn, but Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, state Attorney General Ken Paxton, and local residents who say they are concerned that civil rights laws protecting Christians, Jews, and other non-Muslim groups will be violated. 

Community Capital Partners, the project's developer, denied any violations and said it wants a community where "people of every background, faith, and culture can live together in harmony," but said Islam will be at the center of the development. 

The company has hired Texas attorney Dan Cogdell to represent the project as the calls for investigation grow. 

Cogdell has accused Abbott and other opponents of spreading lies about the Islam-centered community's planning. 

"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," he said during a press conference, reports CBS News. "It's a shame, and it needs to stop."

He said EPIC and Community Capital Partners have received death threats because of the planned community. 

"These aren't foreign adversaries," he said. "These are Texans. These are Americans. These are United States citizens."

Cornyn, in his letter last month to Bondi and Dhillon, said that the "community of thousands of Muslims" could violate the rights of Christians and Jews by preventing them from living in EPIC City and discriminating against them. 

"I further encourage the Department to investigate whether Christians, Jews, and other non-Muslim minorities would receive equal protection under the law in this new community. Religious discrimination, whether explicit or implicit, is unconstitutional under the First and Fourteenth Amendments," he wrote. "Religious freedom is a cornerstone of our nation's values, and I am concerned this community potentially undermines this vital protection."

Cornyn also called for "appropriate steps should be taken to ensure that this community does not run afoul" of its obligations on freedom of religion. 

"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," Cornyn said in the letter.

Meanwhile, Abbott last month slowed the city's developers by announcing that the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) found that EPIC and other affiliated did not obtain the authorizations or permits to start the project. 

"The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality found that the group behind the proposed EPIC compound did not submit the required permits to begin construction," Abbott said. "The State of Texas will enforce its laws and protect our communities from unlawful actions or threats posed by EPIC or its affiliates." 

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