A Democratic Florida lawmaker filed a lawsuit Thursday night asking a court to block Republican Gov. Ron DeSandis from taking more migrants across the southern border, arguing that last week’s flights to Martha’s Vineyard violated state law.   

  State Sen. Jason Pizzo, D-Miami, argues that DeSantis illegally spent taxpayer dollars flying immigrants from San Antonio to the Massachusetts island.  Lawmakers last year approved $12 million for an immigrant transportation program, but the state budget specified the money was for the relocation of “unauthorized aliens from this state.”   

  On Wednesday, Pizzo told CNN: “If we can get this in front of a man or a woman in a black robe, how the hell is the state going to claim that any of these people are from Florida?”   

  In response to the lawsuit, DeSantis spokeswoman Taryn Fenske told CNN on Thursday, “Senator Pizzo never misses an opportunity for his 15 minutes of fame and challenges an appropriations action he voted for.”   

  DeSantis has pledged to bring more migrants across the border, telling reporters Friday that the flights to Martha’s Vineyard were “just the beginning.”   

  The lawsuit was filed in the District Court of the Second Judicial Circuit in Leon County, Florida.  Florida Transportation Secretary Jared Perdue, a DeSantis appointee, and Finance Director-elect Jimmy Patronis, a Republican, are also named as defendants.   

  CNN reached out to Perdue and Patronis, but did not immediately receive responses.   

  Patronis spokesman Frank Collins tweeted in part: “We are receiving the filing and are currently exploring options for sanctions and/or countermeasures.”   

  DeSantis last week took credit for two flights that brought about 48 migrants from the southern border to Martha’s Vineyard in a dramatic stunt that brought the country’s immigration crisis to the fore in the wealthy vacation town.  DeSantis said the action was paid for with $12 million appropriated this year by the Legislature and promised to use “every penny.”   

  Asked repeatedly about his justification for moving immigrants to a city 700 miles from the westernmost tip of Florida, DeSantis said he is trying to stop the flow of immigrants to Florida at the source.  He said the state has people in Texas who “profile” immigrants likely headed to the Sunshine State, and offered flights to Martha’s Vineyard instead.   

  Pizzo, who is suing DeSantis as a state citizen, also alleges in the lawsuit that the state did not follow other requirements to spend the money.  The suit alleges that no immigrant transportation program was ever created by the Florida Department of Transportation, nor did the department receive at least two bids to hire a company to relocate people, another requirement of the law.   

  CNN requested contracts and bid proposals related to the flights from DeSantis’ office and the Florida Department of Transportation.  Nothing has been given to date.   

  Budget records reviewed by CNN show two payments to Destin, Florida-based airline Vertol Systems under the immigrant relocation program.  The initial payment of $615,000 was made by the Florida Department of Transportation on September 8, six days before the Martha’s Vineyard flight.  Another payment of $950,000 followed on September 16.   

  In addition to the flights, DeSantis also confirmed to Fox host Sean Hannity that the migrants were placed in hotels and offered haircuts and other services before being taken to Martha’s Vineyard.   

  The planes briefly touched down in Crestview, Florida, a small town in the Panhandle.   

  Pizzo in the lawsuit claimed the state also violated a new law advocated by DeSantis that prohibits state agencies from contracting with companies that transport “unauthorized aliens.”  While there is disagreement as to whether people picked up at the border constitute “unauthorized aliens,” Pizzo argued that by bringing those people into Florida, the state violated this new law.   

  If the DeSantis administration argues that the immigrants are not “unauthorized aliens,” then it will once again violate the parameters of the immigrant relocation program, Pizzo told CNN.   

  “Did they bring unauthorized aliens into the state?  Because that’s a no no,” Pizzo said.  “Oh they aren’t, then they weren’t entitled to be transferred at all.”   

  “If we’re talking about 48 people from somewhere in Florida and they flew somewhere else, I wouldn’t raise the issue of feeding them, housing them and giving them haircuts,” he added.  “But FDOT, a road construction company, spends money housing food and other services outside of Florida to people who have no connection, no connection, no jurisdiction with the state.  A fifth grader would understand why this is not allowed.”   

  The lawsuit requested an emergency management conference and hearing and asked for an “expedited deadline” to prevent future flights.