The president and his executive branch would be well within their rights to suture off public welfare for unchecked aliens. But undoing a precedent both fundamental and innocuous to American identity is both reckless and frightful.

Trump’s gambit flies in the face of practical political wisdom. Even with the migrant caravan from Honduras in the news, he’d be better off questioning the laws for how people apply for asylum at ports of entry or the rights and benefits granted to illegal migrants, not to those already born here.

This is not a hill to die on. Trump fights, and he has the electoral mandate to strengthen our borders and constitutionally limit the amount of legal immigration flowing into our country. But to upend a legal precedent centuries in the making is a bridge too far, one that Congress should rebel against, not just for political purposes, but for the sustained power of the Constitution and the people.