“President Reagan’s biggest regret as president was granting amnesty and then trusting Congress to deliver on border security,” said 2018 Republican Senate candidate Kelli Ward, expressing opposition to the White House’s recently released amnesty proposal.

Ward’s comments came in an interview with Breitbart News’s Washington Political Editor Matt Boyle on SiriusXM’s Breitbart News Saturday.

“We have to learn from our history,” advised Ward. “In 1986, Ronald Reagan–great president, amazing conservative, lover of liberty and of America–granted amnesty; and Ed Rollins, who is helping me with my campaign, told me that President Reagan’s biggest regret as president was granting amnesty and then trusting Congress to deliver on border security. It didn’t happen then, and it’s not going to happen now if we do this in the wrong order.”

Amnesty advocates seek to mislead Americans with the euphemisms “permanent solution” and “comprehensive immigration reform” as rhetorical rebrandings of amnesty, said Ward.

“A ‘permanent solution’ is amnesty,” said Ward. “Just the same way that ‘comprehensive immigration reform’ is code for amnesty, so is ‘permanent solution.’”

Ward noted her primary Republican opponent, Martha McSally, holding a “D” rating with NumbersUSA, an immigration-focused organization pursuing an end to chain migration, the visa lottery, and the issuance of employment-based visas for foreign workers of “non-extraordinary” skills already available within the American labor force.

“Look at her NumbersUSA score. She is down at 27 or 28 percent. You don’t get a score of 27 or 28 out of 100 on immigration if you are for border security, building the wall, stopping illegal immigration, limiting chain migration if that’s truly who you are. … She’s in the D- to F-rated senator class at every conservative rating across the board. I don’t want another D- or F-rated senator like John McCain or Jeff Flake, and neither do the people of Arizona.”

Martha McSally is “Jeff Flake 2.0” and an “establishment politician,” said Ward. “Her voting record is clear, she’s voted nine times for amnesty.” “She’s been in the mold of the GOP establishment, you know, Mitch McConnell is behind this effort to get another Jeff Flake … into the United States Senate. We in Arizona have to stop it.”

Ward advised President Donald Trump to maintain his previously stated commitments to reject amnesty proposals.

“This is the issue that largely got President Trump elected, this immigration and border security issue,” said Ward. “I know if he stands firm on the promises that he made to build the wall, secure the border, and not offer amnesty, and remember those Angel Moms and Dads … who lost their children at the hands of illegal immigrants–he promised them no amnesty–I know that if he stands firm on those principles, we will achieve the immigration reform and border security that are necessary without planting the seeds of future immigration problems down the road.”

Ward aligned herself with President Donald Trump’s “Make America Great Again” vision, saying she has been “fighting for the America First agenda before it was ever called that.”

Breitbart News Saturday airs Saturdays on SiriusXM’s Patriot channel 125 from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Eastern (7:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. Pacific).

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Follow Robert Kraychik on Twitter @rkraychik.