Hegseth Urges European Action on Migration During Normandy D-Day Anniversary Address]
US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth called on European nations to address what he characterized as migration-related challenges during a D-Day anniversary speech in Normandy, framing the remarks within the context of broader Trump administration priorities on borders and security.
Hegseth, who previously hosted a daytime program on Fox News before assuming the role of defence secretary in January, delivered his address at the American military cemetery in Colleville-sur-Mer on the Normandy coast, marking the 82nd anniversary of the Allied landings in northern France.
“Sadly, today different European beaches are stormed by different dangerous ideologies,” he said, drawing a comparison between World War II sacrifices and contemporary challenges.
“On beaches in Spain and Italy and Greece and Bulgaria, boats and men arrive,” he continued. “When will European capitals do something about that invasion? Or is it too late?”
His comments followed similar rhetoric from US Vice President JD Vance, who the previous day attributed Britain’s social challenges to what he termed civilizational decline caused by migrant “invasion.”
Hegseth spoke before the tombstones of the 9,387 American soldiers killed in action during the Battle of Normandy, a site of significance for transatlantic military commemoration. “May we learn from this past,” he said, referencing the critical American role in the 1944 Allied landings.
“The men buried here fought in a war-fighting alliance where every partner… brought its full measure of industry, courage and sacrifice,” he noted, contrasting that effort with what he described as insufficient modern resolve.
“Not empty slogans, not lavish summits, not communiques,” he said. “Real allies doing real things, taking real losses for a shared cause worth fighting and dying for.”
Hegseth skipped the main international ceremony later in the afternoon, despite the United States’ central role in the operation that helped defeat Nazi Germany.
Regarding European defense, he renewed calls for greater burden-sharing, stating that while America “will lead,” its allies must be “right there with us, shoulder-to-shoulder in the breach when it matters.”
The Trump administration has repeatedly criticized European countries for inadequate security contributions and has at times suggested the possibility of reduced US commitment to NATO.
“Peace is secured only through strength,” he told attendees, including French armed forces minister Catherine Vautrin, adding that this required “readiness, shared military capabilities and an unwavering political will.”
The Normandy landings remain the largest amphibious operation in history. On June 6, 1944, 6,939 ships carried 132,700 troops from eight allied nations to 80 kilometers of Normandy beaches, opening a western front against Nazi Germany.
The operation, launched under difficult conditions and at great human cost, alongside Soviet advances from the east, proved decisive in the Allied victory in Europe.
