The Trump administration’s decision to cut off aid to El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras to punish their governments for failing to curb migration is a rash response to a real policy dilemma.

Cutting off aid will needlessly deepen tensions between Congress and the administration, and it will exacerbate migration from the region without twisting Central American politicians’ arms. But we shouldn’t pretend that the aid itself was doing much good — in fact, the best move right now would be to significantly change the way aid to Central America is structured, to push those countries to alleviate the political, economic and social pressures driving people north in the first place.

Immigration-fueled tensions between Congress and the White House are likely to reach a new high as a result of the decision to cut off aid to Central America. The president’s declaration of a state of emergency to build his wall already triggered a battle over the power to legislate; that fight will now grow to include the power of the purse.

The potential cost is greater than heightened acrimony: As each side will surely dig in its heels, sensible immigration and foreign policies, such as bipartisan efforts to address the rising number of asylum seekers or to prevent Guatemala from sliding into authoritarianism, will get lost in the scuffle.