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US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth gives a speech at the US cemetery in Normandy on the occasion of the 82nd anniversary of the D-Day landings in Colleville-sur-Mer.
Keystone
In his speech on D-Day, US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth drew a provocative comparison between the Allied landings in 1944 and migration to the EU today.
People and ships carrying "dangerous ideologies" are arriving on the beaches of Spain, Italy, Greece and Bulgaria today, said Hegseth at the US cemetery in Colleville-sur-Mer at the commemoration of the Allied landings in Normandy 82 years ago.
"When will the European capitals do something about this invasion, or is it already too late?" Hegseth went on to ask. The allies still had time to give in, he continued.
The minority leader of the Democrats in the US House of Representatives, Hakeem Jeffries, sharply criticized the Republican's remarks. "Thousands of American heroes died on D-Day defending freedom and defeating fascism. Pete Hegseth should honor and respect their memory," Jeffries wrote on the X platform. Remembrance should not be politically instrumentalized, he warned.
Pete Hegseth in Normandy:
— Clash Report (@clashreport) June 6, 2026
Sadly, today different European beaches are stormed by different dangerous ideologies.
In Spain and Italy and Greece and Bulgaria, boats and men arrive.
When will European capitals do something about that invasion? Or is it too late? pic.twitter.com/NHyB3sjMsh
The so-called D-Day on June 6, 1944 marked the beginning of the liberation of France and Western Europe from Nazi rule. At the time, the Allied forces consisted mainly of Americans, British, Canadians, Poles and French.
President Donald Trump's administration has already repeatedly criticized its European allies for alleged dangers posed by an "invasion" of immigrants and accuses them of a misguided migration policy. Trump's government has boasted of a very tough approach to asylum seekers and undocumented migrants in the US.
Most recently, Vice President JD Vance called for "righteous anger" in an X-Post and attributed the murder of an 18-year-old in Southampton, southern England, to an alleged "mass invasion of migrants". The British government subsequently called on people to refrain from "division, hatred or tension".
07.06.2026, 03:42
07.06.2026, 09:45
