Credit: Photo via DeSantis/Twitter
Two top aides to Gov. Ron DeSantis were added as defendants Tuesday in a potential class-action lawsuit stemming from the DeSantis administration flying 49 migrants from Texas to Massachusetts in September.

An amended version of the lawsuit added DeSantis public-safety adviser Larry Keefe and DeSantis Chief of Staff James Uthmeier as defendants.

Also, it added Vertol Systems Company, Inc., which received a state contract to provide the flights; James Montgomerie, the companyโ€™s president; and Perla Huerta, who allegedly led efforts to recruit migrants around San Antonio, Texas.

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The lawsuit, whose plaintiffs include the group Alianza Americas and individuals, makes a series of allegations, including violations of constitutional due-process and equal-protection rights.

The case was initially filed in September in federal court in Massachusetts and named as defendants DeSantis, Department of Transportation Secretary Jared Perdue and then-unidentified people who recruited migrants.

DeSantis, who is widely considered a potential 2024 Republican presidential candidate, frequently rails against Biden administration immigration policies.

The flights took the migrants from San Antonio to Marthaโ€™s Vineyard, with a stop in the Northwest Florida community of Crestview.

โ€œDefendants intentionally and invidiously targeted class plaintiffs because of their race, ethnicity, national origin, and/or status as non-citizens,โ€ the amended lawsuit said.

โ€œThey specifically preyed on recent immigrants โ€” and in particular, on recent Latinx immigrants from Venezuela and Peru โ€” because they believed that transporting Latinx immigrants to Marthaโ€™s Vineyard would fuel greater political outcry about unauthorized crossings at the Southern border than if white or other non-Latinx immigrants were targeted and because they believed that such immigrants would lack resources and be susceptible to their false offers of jobs, services, and benefits.โ€

To pay for the flights, the DeSantis administration tapped into part of $12 million that Florida lawmakers earmarked in the state budget to transport undocumented immigrants.

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