During his D-Day speech, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth made a provocative comparison between the Allied landings in 1944 and today’s migration to the EU.
Jun 7, 2026, 5:36 a.mJun 7, 2026, 5:36 a.m
People and ships carrying “dangerous ideologies” are arriving on the beaches in Spain, Italy, Greece and Bulgaria today, said Hegseth at the US cemetery in Colleville-sur-Mer at the commemoration of the Allied landings in Normandy 82 years ago.
Pete Hegseth regularly refrains from using rhetorical tact.Image: keystone
“When will the European capitals do something about this invasion, or is it already too late?” Hegseth continued. The allies still have time to give in, he continued.
Top Democrat: Don’t exploit the memory of heroes
The Democratic minority leader in the US House of Representatives, Hakeem Jeffries, sharply criticized the Republican’s comments. “Thousands of American heroes died on D-Day defending freedom and defeating fascism. “Pete Hegseth should honor and respect her memory,” Jeffries wrote on the X platform. The memory should not be exploited politically, he warned.
The so-called D-Day on June 6, 1944 marked the beginning of the liberation of France and Western Europe from Nazi rule. At that time, the Allied forces mainly included Americans, British, Canadians, Poles and French.
President Donald Trump’s government has repeatedly criticized its European allies over the alleged dangers posed by an “invasion” of immigrants and has accused them of misguided migration policies. Trump’s government boasts of a very tough crackdown on asylum seekers and migrants without valid residence permits in the USA.
JD Vance also agitates against migration
Most recently, Vice President JD Vance called for “righteous anger” in an X post and attributed the murder of an 18-year-old in Southampton, southern England, to an alleged “mass invasion of migrants”. The case caused major protests and accusations of discrimination in Great Britain because police officers arrested the dying victim instead of the perpetrator. The British government subsequently called for “division, hatred or tension” to be avoided. (sda/dpa/con)