Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis faces yet another lawsuit, this time by a senator in his own state, for orchestrating the transportation of migrants from Texas to Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts.
Florida Democratic State Sen. Jason Pizzo, who represents the Miami-Dade area, is suing Gov. DeSantis and other state officials for flying the migrants as part of DeSantis’ part of his pledge to drop off illegal immigrants in so-called sanctuary cities.
As the state lawmaker claims in his lawsuit – in which he also requests a judge to stop such relocations – using Florida funds to relocate migrants from another state is an illegitimate use of those funds and violates Florida laws.
Although the state’s transportation budget that the Florida legislature previously approved allocated $12 million to relocate illegal migrants who had entered Florida, Pizzo argues that DeSantis is not using those funds in the manner they were appropriated because migrants he moved are not unauthorized aliens and were not originally in Florida.
Sen. Pizzo stressed in an interview later that Gov. DeSantis simply can’t comply with the law although he himself signed into law bills that were designed to suit his agenda which his legislators have carried and passed. He underscored that even with the completely privileged position DeSantis is in, he can’t follow the rules for the game he has set.
Emphasizing that Pizzo is simply seeking 15 minutes of fame, DeSantis’ communications director Taryn Fenske dismissed the new lawsuit, adding that the senator is challenging an action on an appropriation he voted for. She also dismissed as political theater on Wednesday the class-action lawsuit filed by a group of illegal Venezuelan migrants flown to Massachusetts.
The lawsuit also names the Florida Department of Transportation, the department’s secretary Jared Perdue, and Florida Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis, which also dismissed the lawsuit arguing that DeSantis’ office was operating in compliance with the appropriation bill Pizzo also voted to pass.
The communications director for the Florida Department of Financial Services, Devin Galletta, also noted that his office was exploring options for a countersuit.
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