Hegseth criticizes European migration in D-Day speech

U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth used a D-Day anniversary ceremony in Normandy to criticize European migration policy, warning that the freedom won by Allied troops could prove temporary if today’s leaders fail to defend it.

Speaking Saturday at the Normandy American Cemetery in Colleville-sur-Mer, France, Hegseth marked the 82nd anniversary of the June 6, 1944, landings by invoking the beaches where Allied forces began the liberation of Nazi-occupied northwestern Europe. He also laid a wreath during the ceremony.

“Sadly, today, different European beaches are stormed by different dangerous ideologies,” Hegseth said. “Beaches in Spain, in Italy, in Greece and Bulgaria. Boats and men arrive. When will European capitals do something about that invasion?”

He added: “I pray not, and I believe not.”

Hegseth did not use the word immigration, but his remarks echoed broader criticism from the Trump administration toward Europe over migration and border policy. The BBC reported that migration has become a major political issue across Europe, where parties supporting hardline immigration policies have surged in polls.

Hegseth said some European capitals have grown too “comfortable” with freedoms secured during World War II and have forgotten that “freedom is not free.”

“The men who fought and died here restored freedom to Europe,” he said. “That freedom must be maintained by this generation of leaders and war fighters or what they fought for was merely temporary.”

The D-Day operation was the largest seaborne military operation ever attempted, involving the simultaneous landing of tens of thousands of troops from the United Kingdom, United States and Canada on five beaches in northern France.

Hegseth’s comments came after U.S. Vice President JD Vance drew criticism in Britain for linking immigration to the killing of Henry Nowak, an 18-year-old British student who was fatally stabbed last year in Southampton by Vickrum Digwa. The BBC reported that Vance blamed the death on the “mass invasion of migrants” and said the “only response” was “righteous anger.” CBS News reported that both Nowak and his killer were British.

Downing Street criticized “people trying to interfere in our democracy” and said Nowak’s family had “said they do not want his death to be used to create further division.” British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s office also condemned Vance’s remarks, CBS News reported.

President Donald Trump has also criticized European immigration policy. The BBC reported that Trump told the United Nations last year that European countries were “going to hell” because of “uncontrolled migration.” Starmer responded that the president’s remarks were “not right,” while acknowledging the “challenge” of tackling illegal migration, particularly small-boat crossings of the English Channel.

Sea arrivals into mainland Europe peaked in 2015, when the United Nations said more than 1 million people crossed the Mediterranean. Between April 2025 and March 2026, there were a combined 169,341 sea arrivals to the UK, Greece, Italy, Spain and Cyprus, with crossings to the UK accounting for about 23% of the total. From Jan. 1 to June 3, 2026, 9,142 people crossed the English Channel by small boat to the UK from France, down 38% from the same period the previous year.

In December, the Trump administration’s National Security Strategy warned that Europe could become “unrecognizable” within 20 years and cited the “prospect of civilizational erasure.” Domestically, the administration has made anti-immigration policy a central part of its agenda, with Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents making thousands of arrests since January 2025, according to the BBC.