Arizona went all Trump on immigration before Trump did

• Donald Trump has won the support of three big names from Arizona's debate over illegal immigration
• Trump is backed by ex-Gov. Jan Brewer, Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio and SB 1070's co-author
• Trump's immigration policy platform also includes several ideas that have been discussed in Arizona

In the nearly six years since the Legislature enacted the hard-line immigration law Senate Bill 1070, provoking a national furor and economic backlash, Arizona leaders have been reluctant to wade into the immigration fight in such a provocative way.

The presidential candidacy of Donald Trump, however, has revived many of the same political themes Arizona conservatives championed during the 2010 debate of SB 1070 as he has established himself as the party's presidential front-runner. Trump has called for more border fencing and the elimination of the 14th Amendment's guarantee of automatic citizenship for the U.S.-born children of undocumented immigrants.

Further linking his campaign to Arizona-tested immigration policy on the eve of Super Tuesday primaries and caucuses, Trump has rounded up the support of some of the state's high-profile border hard-liners, even as they have been increasingly marginalized in the state's politics.

On Saturday, Trump, the celebrity billionaire outsider who has dominated this year's race for the GOP nomination, announced the endorsement of former Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer, who signed SB 1070.

Trump had already won the endorsement of Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, whose agency was found by a federal judge to have racially profiled Latinos during enforcement activities. And former state Senate President Russell Pearce, R-Mesa, SB 1070's chief sponsor, sat in a position of prominence behind Trump during a July 11 campaign rally at the downtown Phoenix Convention Center.

On Monday, Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, who as a Missouri law professor provided legal guidance to Pearce as he drafted SB 1070, also endorsed Trump.

“Now, more than ever, America needs Mr. Trump’s aggressive approach to the problem of illegal immigration," Kobach said in a written statement circulated by Trump's campaign. "Our porous border represents a huge national security threat, and our refugee system has been abused by terrorists in the past and is likely to be abused by ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria) terrorists today. Moreover, there are too many Americans who are out of work because of illegal immigration or who are working in jobs where the wages are depressed because of illegal immigration.”

Pearce and Kobach's SB 1070, signed by Brewer on April 23, 2010, not only caused a national furor but also prompted a legal challenge. The Supreme Court struck down part of the law but left some of it intact, including a provision requiring law enforcement to determine an individual's immigration status if they have reason to believe they're in the country illegally.

Pearce was recalled and removed from office. Brewer won a full term as governor in 2010, which ended in early 2015.

Trump has taken anti-illegal-immigration rhetoric even further than his Arizona allies, denouncing undocumented immigrants as "rapists" and drug runners, vowing to build a border wall at Mexico's expense, and promising mass deportations.

"There is an expression in Spanish that, translated, goes like this: Tell me who you walk with, and I'll tell you who you are," said Frank Sharry, executive director of America's Voice, a liberal national organization that advocates for comprehensive immigration reform. "By that standard, Donald Trump and the anti-immigrant zealots who almost wrecked the state of Arizona deserve each other.

"Trump is running an extraordinary campaign that is anchored in xenophobia and divisiveness and it's no surprise that the likes of Brewer, Arpaio and Kobach would be drawn to the light like moths to a flame," he added.

Trump does seem to have made a connection with the state.

“I love the state of Arizona and have received incredible support throughout the state," Trump said Saturday in announcing the Brewer endorsement.

He has held two rallies in Arizona: the Phoenix rally in July, shortly after he launched his presidential candidacy, and another in Mesa in December.

Arpaio told The Arizona Republic on Monday that "we have to give Arizona a lot of credit" for Trump's ascension to the top of the GOP polls. The early rally in Phoenix gave his campaign momentum and provided a compelling backdrop for his immigration message, Arpaio said.

"There's a lot of people around the nation who don't like illegal immigration," said Arpaio, who not only has endorsed Trump but stumped on his behalf in Iowa and Nevada. "He's just the one who opened the door. No politician wanted to talk about it until he came to Arizona and opened the door and said we have to do something about illegal immigration. Then all the presidential candidates started talking about it."

In February, Trump won the New Hampshire and South Carolina primaries and the Nevada caucuses. He finished second to U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas in the Iowa caucuses. He is expected to win big among the March 1 Super Tuesday states, which include Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Tennessee and Texas.

One political expert said Trump's rising number of endorsements probably has more to do with political opportunism than any sort of movement.

The anti-immigration attitudes "have gotten mixed in with a broader anti-insider sentiment within the Republican Party and that has created a wave that Trump has been able to surf," said John J. "Jack" Pitney, Jr., a political scientist at Claremont McKenna College in Southern California.

The famous Arizona names are reacting to public sentiment more than driving it, he said. "They see which way the parade is going and they want to jump out in front of it," Pitney said.

But in recent years such hard-line immigration politics have not always been a political winner in Arizona. The abrupt end of Pearce's legislative career is one example. Former Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas, an Arpaio ally, lost a 2010 primary bid for state attorney general and was later disbarred. U.S. Sens. John McCain and Jeff Flake, both Arizona Republicans, beat back primary challengers in 2010 and 2012 who were far to the right of them on immigration, partly by toughening their own positions on the border.

Similarly, Sharry said he believes Trump's alienation of Latino voters would make him a loser in the general election.

"I'm sure they (the Arizona immigration figures) feel somewhat vindicated by the rise of Trump, but I suspect that Trump will end up in much the same shape as many of them: out of office and disgraced," Sharry said.

But Arpaio said that it is Hillary Clinton, the former U.S. secretary of state and Democratic front-runner, who could be in for a surprise.

Unlike 2012 Republican nominee Mitt Romney, Trump does not come across like a wealthy patrician and forms bonds with his audiences, he said.

"He's a regular guy. You'll see a lot of people flip over to his side if he gets to the general election," Arpaio predicted. "He can take out all the guns and he'll beat Hillary."