Finding the Locus of the Problem

At another venue someone wrote about the idea of "American Exceptionalism" and had this comment, which managed to smear Arizona specifically, as well as the rest of us in general:

Then there is Emma Lazarus whose words are not currently cherished in Arizona:

Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses, yearning to breath free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore,
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me:
I lift my lamp beside the golden door.

Emma Lazarus 1883

I thought about what the person said and then concluded that he had missed an important point about Arizona and its approach to illegal immigrants.  This is not a problem in Arizona, but a problem in our Nation's Capitol.  No, I am not talking about Presidential Amnesty.  I am talking about the US Congress.  If rooting out illegal immigrants is such a problem, and has been such a problem, why has the august US Congress not changed the immigration laws to increase the quota for those from "south of the border"?  If, in fact, we have room in our economy for these additional folks, why are we not opening the gates to them?  I realize that up to 1.4 million new workers brought on board by President Obama's amnesty will send small shock waves through the economy, but one would think that the President has taken this into account and that he sees the economic recovery as demanding these new workers.  Why does the US Congress not see this and act on it?  This is an equal opportunity question, as the Democrats controlled Capitol Hill for four years this decade, and control is divided now.

Regards  —  Cliff