Hegseth invokes immigration and ‘invasion’ in D-day speech in France
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- At a D-day commemoration in Normandy, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth likened recent sea arrivals in Europe to an ‘invasion,’ warning that freedoms won in 1944 remain under threat.
- Hegseth’s remarks, delivered at the American cemetery overlooking Omaha Beach, echoed Trump administration broadsides against European migration policies and what it calls censorship of nationalist and far-right movements.
- The speech came as Vice President JD Vance and other U.S. officials face backlash in Europe for tying violent crimes and demographic change to immigration.
PARIS — U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth gave a D-day anniversary speech Saturday that appeared to link immigration by sea to the wartime liberation of Europe, warning that the freedom won by Allied troops could prove temporary if leaders failed to defend it against today’s “invasion.”
Hegseth, speaking at the Normandy American Cemetery in Colleville-sur-Mer overlooking Omaha Beach in northwestern France during commemorations for the 82nd anniversary of the June 6, 1944, landings, said that today, “different European beaches are stormed by different dangerous ideologies.”
“Beaches in Spain and Italy and Greece and Bulgaria. Boats and men arrive,” he said.
“When will European capitals do something about that invasion? Or is it too late?” he added. “I pray not, and I believe not.”
Hegseth did not use the word “immigration,” but his remarks echoed broader Trump administration criticism of Europe over migration, borders and what U.S. officials have described as censorship of nationalist and far-right voices.
On Saturday, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s office condemned Vice President JD Vance’s remarks blaming immigration for the killing of Henry Nowak, an 18-year-old British student stabbed to death in Southampton, even though both Nowak and his killer were British.
In December, the Trump administration’s national security strategy warned that Europe faced the “prospect of civilizational erasure” and could become “unrecognizable” within 20 years.
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