WASHINGTON - US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth has criticised European nations over migration for allowing what he described as an ‘invasion’ on their shores, during a D-Day anniversary speech in France.
Hegseth was speaking in Normandy 82 years after allied forces stormed French beaches to liberate Nazi-occupied Europe in 1944.
“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?”
Migration has become a major political issue across Europe, with parties supporting hardline immigration policies surging in polls.
The Trump administration sees an immigration crackdown as a key part of its domestic policy agenda, requesting billions more in funding for enforcement agencies.
Hegseth’s comments mark a further criticism of European migration policy by senior members of the Trump administration.
On Friday, US Vice President JD Vance blamed the death of the 18-year-old British student Henry Nowak, who was fatally stabbed last year in Southampton by Vickrum Digwa, on the ‘mass invasion of migrants’ and said the ‘only response’ was ‘righteous anger’.
Downing Street responded by criticising ‘people trying to interfere in our democracy,’ adding that the Nowak family had ‘said they do not want his death to be used to create further division’.
US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth.