Let's be clear about what DACA always was: a temporary executive band-aid applied by the Obama administration when Congress couldn't get its act together on immigration reform. That was over a decade ago. Since then, hundreds of thousands of people have built lives, started businesses, earned degrees, and contributed to local economies — all while operating under a policy that was always one court ruling away from collapse.

And that's the real scandal here. Not the ruling itself, which is the predictable consequence of building immigration policy on executive action instead of legislation. The scandal is that Congress has had twelve years to craft a durable, statutory solution and has chosen instead to fundraise off the issue from both sides of the aisle.

From a liberty-minded perspective, the situation is maddening. These are, in many cases, productive members of society who followed the rules as they existed. The government invited them to register, hand over their personal information, and trust the system. Now the system is shifting under their feet. That's not how a government that respects individual rights should operate.

The Bay Area's tech sector, restaurants, hospitals, and schools are full of DACA recipients. Losing them doesn't just hurt them — it hurts the local economy.

What we actually need is straightforward: Congress needs to stop using Dreamers as political pawns and pass a clean legislative fix that provides a defined legal pathway. No omnibus bills. No poison pills. No more kicking the can. People's lives aren't supposed to be governed by bureaucratic coin flips — and a functioning republic shouldn't tolerate it.