And just as red states moved to crack down on immigrants in the wake of the 2010 tea party revolution, a number of blue states interpreted Democrats’ 2012 success with Latino voters as a signal to move in the opposite direction. Today, entire states, cities, towns, counties and school boards, mostly in Democratic pockets across the country, are passing laws designed to protect unauthorized immigrants from deportations and harassment. The leading player in this burgeoning trend is California, where Gov. Jerry Brown has signed a slew of legislation aimed at expanding access to education, work, and transportation. “The year 2013 was a complete reversal on this issue,” said Muzaffar Chishti, who researches states immigration policy as director of the Migration Policy Institute’s office at New York University, told msnbc. “In many ways, you could say California has become the anti-Arizona.”
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