WORCESTER, Mass. - Local immigration lawyer Randy Feldman believes Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' decision to send about 50 undocumented immigrants to Martha's Vineyard was politically motivated.

Feldman said DeSantis, a Republican, sent the group to Martha's Vineyard, which is known as a migrant sanctuary, to show them what it's like to receive a larger amount of people than they can take care of at one time.

He said he believes DeSantis has political aspirations and is injecting politics into a human plight and is using Martha's Vineyard as pawns to get the support of Republican voters. He said he isn't surprised by the decision.

"To show his premonition of how he organized this political stunt, he got the legislature in Florida to issue a $12 million allotment of money in the last Florida budget so that they could transport, in this case fly, people to other parts of the country," Feldman said. "So, he set this whole thing up a long time ago. He was going to do this to rise himself in the right Republican electorate to be able to take a position of prominence away from Donald Trump."

DeSantis said his decision is because states like Massachusetts, New York and California will better facilitate the care of these individuals.

Feldman said as of Thursday, he hasn't heard of any immigrants coming from Florida to Worcester. He said it will depend now on what Gov. Charlie Baker (R) decides to do, but said Worcester has a good track record of accommodating and helping people adapt to life in the city.