US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth criticises European nations over migration, describing it as an 'invasion' during a D-Day anniversary speech in France.
Key facts
- •US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth described migration to European beaches as an 'invasion' during a D-Day anniversary speech in France.
- •Hegseth spoke in Normandy, 82 years after allied forces stormed French beaches to liberate Nazi-occupied north-western Europe in 1944.
- •Between April 2025 and March 2026, there were 169,341 sea arrivals to the UK, Greece, Italy, Spain, and Cyprus.
- •Crossings to the UK accounted for about 23% of the total sea arrivals between April 2025 and March 2026.
- •Between 1 January and 3 June 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.
- •The Trump administration has made anti-immigration policy a key tenet of its agenda, with thousands of arrests made by ICE agents since January 2025.
US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth has criticised European nations over migration, describing it as an 'invasion' during a D-Day anniversary speech in France. Hegseth spoke in Normandy, 82 years after allied forces stormed French beaches to liberate Nazi-occupied north-western Europe in 1944. He said different European beaches are now stormed by different dangerous ideologies.
D-Day Anniversary Speech
Hegseth said that in the years since D-Day, some European capitals have grown too 'comfortable' with their hard-fought freedoms, forgetting that 'freedom is not free'. He stated that the men who fought and died on D-Day restored freedom to Europe, and that this freedom must be maintained by the current generation of leaders and war fighters.
Migration Policy Criticism
Hegseth's comments mark a further criticism of European migration policy by senior members of the Trump administration. US President Donald Trump has also criticised European immigration policy, telling the UN last year that European countries were 'going to hell' due to 'uncontrolled migration'. In response, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the president's remarks were 'not right', while accepting the 'challenge' of tackling illegal migration.
This article was independently rewritten by ManyPress editorial AI from reporting originally published by BBC World.
