Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth used the D-Day beaches as a backdrop Saturday to press Europe on a different kind of perceived invasion: mass migration. Speaking at the Normandy American Cemetery on the 82nd anniversary of the Allied landings, he warned that "different European beaches are stormed by different dangerous ideologies." He said they're arriving with "boats and men" to the shores of Spain, Italy, Greece, and Bulgaria, the Hill reports, and questioned when European capitals would "do something about that invasion." Although Hegseth did not use the word "immigration," his remarks echoed broader Trump administration criticism of Europe over migration, borders, and what US officials have described as censorship of nationalist and far-right voices, per the AP.
Vice President JD Vance has similarly argued that Europe faces a "mass invasion of migrants," saying in February that voters never signed up for "millions of unvetted immigrants," and this week tying a British teen's killing to what he called "civilizational decline." The EU's main institutions agreed on a tougher migration pact that boosts deportations, per the Hill, and sets up offshore detention centers—measures humanitarians including the International Rescue Committee warn could normalize raids, expand prison-like facilities beyond EU borders, and send people back to countries where they risk serious abuse.
Speaking before the 9,387 white crosses for American troops killed in action during the Battle of Normandy, Hegseth said: "The men buried here fought in a war-fighting alliance where every partner (...) brought its full measure of industry, courage and sacrifice. Not empty slogans, not lavish summits, not communiques. Real allies doing real things, taking real losses for a shared cause worth fighting and dying for." Hegseth was scheduled to sit out the main international ceremony marking the anniversary of the landings later in the afternoon, per Le Monde.
,
uBlock 
,
and
Ghostery 
)
