In the heart of Texas, controversy is brewing over EPIC City, a planned 400-acre “all-Islamic” community that critics say would effectively operate outside American law. The ongoing debate over the project has also raised fresh concerns about so-called “Islamization” in other parts of the country.
According to EPIC City’s website, the development, which the East Plano Islamic Center (EPIC) announced in 2024, will be “a community aimed at serving the needs of the Muslim community” that “brings Islam to the forefront.” It will feature 1,000 homes, a K-12 Islamic school, a mosque, apartments, health centers, commercial shopping, and even a community college – in theory, residents won’t ever have to leave the compound.
While EPIC City initially garnered little media attention, local residents and online influencers have thrust it into the spotlight. Amy Mek, founder of the organization Resistance Against Islamic Radicals (RAIR), has been a particularly vocal critic, posting footage from community meetings of Texans opposed to the project.
In one clip Mek posted on X earlier this month, a woman who identifies herself as the daughter of a Guatemalan immigrant explains why she believes it is wrong that the developers of EPIC City are aiming to create an Islamic compound separate from the rest of the community.
“We didn’t come here to build a Guatemalan Catholic compound,” she said. “We assimilated. We became American. Why is EPIC building a city where everything is Islamic – the school, the mosque, the fitness center, even the medical clinic? That’s not diversity. That’s ideological takeover. This is not okay with the American people.”
As Mek also reported, Douglas Deaton, a retired police lieutenant from Collin County, where the EPIC City site is located, has alleged that EPIC has already created a “Sharia-controlled enclave” that has “operated as a religiously exclusive neighborhood.” That enclave reportedly includes the “UIF Corporation,” a Michigan-based company whose own website states that it exists to “engage in financial transactions that are Sharia compliant.”
Sharia law is a system of Islamic religious principles derived from the Quran, the Hadith (sayings and actions of the Prophet Muhammad), and centuries of work by Islamic scholars. While interpretations and applications of Sharia vary across cultures and countries, in many cases it has been used to justify severe restrictions on women’s rights and violence against women, including the grotesque practice of genital mutilation.
Additionally, harsh punishments such as stoning for adultery or amputation for theft have been carried out under radical interpretations of Sharia, contributing to the rise and justification of Islamic extremism. These practices have been condemned by human rights organizations around the world, as they often violate basic principles of equality, freedom, and due process. Muslim countries in the Middle East such as Afghanistan and Iran are notably governed according to Sharia.
Despite a slow initial reaction from elected officials in Texas, Governor Greg Abbott and Attorney General Ken Paxton have recently launched investigations into EPIC City for potential legal violations. “To be clear, Sharia law is not allowed in Texas,” Abbott wrote on X in response to one of Mek’s posts. “Nor are Sharia cities. Nor are ‘no go zones’ which this project seems to imply.”
Texas Senator John Cornyn, a Republican, also sent a letter to the Department of Justice requesting an investigation into EPIC City. “Specifically, I am concerned that 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,” Cornyn wrote.
But as Mek has written, EPIC City may just be “the next phase” of a broader campaign already underway in Texas and elsewhere in the United States. One video shared by RAIR shows a man touring another neighborhood in Texas noting “everyone is Muslim here” and “this reminds me of my 100 percent Muslim country.” In another case, developers who had publicly praised Hamas were granted permits to begin constructing an Islamic compound near the small city of Blue Ridge, Texas.
Across the country in New Jersey, the mayor of Paterson, Andre Sayegh, declared last month that his town is now “the capital of Palestine in the United States of America” and “the fourth most halal or holiest city in the world.” About 30,000 of Paterson’s 150,000 residents are Muslim, and schools now give students days off for Muslim religious holidays, along with offering halal meals.
Other areas like Dearborn, Michigan, have also seen a large increase in their Muslim populations in recent years, coinciding with increased concerns about Islamic radicalization. The research organization Memri recently shared one video of a Muslim man at a pro-Palestine fundraiser in Dearborn who declared that “this empire, the American empire… must fall.” In another incident last year, anti-Israel protestors in Dearborn chanted “death to America.”
As liberals so often like to remind us, the United States is a “nation of immigrants” and remains a land of opportunity for people of all ethnic and religious backgrounds – so long as they comply with American laws. But what seems to have been lost in recent years is the vision of America as a “melting pot,” where those who come here blend their native cultures into one unifying and unique American culture. Irish Americans celebrate St. Patrick’s Day alongside Americans from Africa and Eastern Europe, while Americans from Asia and South America host parties for Cinco de Mayo with their Hispanic American neighbors every year.
Along with potentially violating numerous state laws, EPIC City seems to be the antithesis of this ideal. Assimilation and integration are critical for the successful migration of peoples to America. The melting pot only works when all Americans, no matter how long they have been here, embrace being part of one shared society.
Andrew Abbott is the pen name of a writer and public affairs consultant with over a decade of experience in DC at the intersection of politics and culture.
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