US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth used a D-Day commemoration speech on Saturday to warn Europe about the invasion of “dangerous ideologies,” urging the continent to take action against mass immigration.
Speaking on 82nd anniversary of June 6, 1944On the Allied landings in Normandy, Hegseth said: “Sadly, today, the various beaches of Europeattacked by different ideologies, dangerous – beaches in Spain, Italy, Greece and Bulgaria; boats and people arrive.”
“When will the European capitals do something about the invasion? Or is it too late? I’m not asking, and I don’t believe,” Hegseth said in a speech at the Normandy American Cemetery in Colleville-sur-Mer in northwestern France.
The D-Day celebration commemorated the 1944 landings in Normandy, when American and Allied forces crossed the English Channel to launch the liberation of Western Europe from Nazi occupation.
Hegseth’s remarks echoed the views of other US officials, including US President Donald Trump, who have criticized European countries for failing to control immigration. Washington in December, in its National Security Strategy, warned that Europeit faced the possibility of “de-civilization” fueled by immigration, the weakening of national identity and government policies that allegedly undermined freedom.
US Vice President JD Vance was blamed on Friday the death of a British teenager last year on the “politics of self-hatred” of the West and “massive migrant invasion” – comments that were quick to condemn and the British government.
Saying that every Allied country “pulled its weight” in the D-Day invasion, Hegseth on Saturday also called on European governments to increase their commitment to defense capabilities.
“The United States will lead. It is necessary,” Hegseth said. “But capable partners must be with us, side by side, in the breach, when it matters,” he emphasized.
“We stand with our partners. And we expect our partners able and willing to stand by us,” Hegseth said.
