Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth marked the 82nd anniversary of D-Day in Normandy by warning European leaders about migration pressures and calling on U.S. allies to take greater responsibility for their own security.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth used a D-Day anniversary address in Normandy on Saturday to press European leaders on migration and defense, warning that the continent faces modern threats that require stronger political will and greater military responsibility from U.S. allies.
Speaking at the American military cemetery in Colleville-sur-Mer, France, Hegseth marked the 82nd anniversary of the Allied landings that helped liberate Europe from Nazi Germany during World War II. His remarks connected the sacrifice of U.S. troops in 1944 with the Trump administration’s current calls for Europe to secure its borders and contribute more to its own defense.
“Sadly, today different European beaches are stormed by different dangerous ideologies,” Hegseth said.
He pointed to migration across the Mediterranean and other coastal routes into Europe.
On “beaches in Spain and Italy and Greece and Bulgaria, boats and men arrive,” Hegseth said.
“When will European capitals do something about that invasion? Or is it too late?” he added.
The remarks echoed the Trump administration’s broader argument that mass migration threatens European sovereignty and culture. Vice President JD Vance made a similar point Friday after the murder of British student Henry Nowak, blaming the case in part on what he described as civilizational decline caused by an “invasion” of migrants.
Hegseth spoke before the graves of 9,387 American service members killed during the Battle of Normandy. He said the men buried there had fought in a serious military alliance built on sacrifice rather than diplomacy alone.
“May we learn from this past,” Hegseth said.
“The men buried here fought in a war-fighting alliance where every partner… brought its full measure of industry, courage and sacrifice,” he said.
“Not empty slogans, not lavish summits, not communiques,” Hegseth continued. “Real allies doing real things, taking real losses for a shared cause worth fighting and dying for.”
Hegseth said the United States would continue to lead, but he emphasized that European allies must stand with America in practical and military terms.
While America “will lead,” Hegseth said, its “capable allies must be right there with us, shoulder-to-shoulder in the breach when it matters.”
The comments come as the Trump administration continues pressing European countries to increase their defense spending and reduce reliance on the United States for security. Trump officials have criticized Europe for not contributing enough to NATO and have warned that Washington expects allies to carry more of the burden.
“Peace is secured only through strength,” Hegseth told the audience, which included French armed forces Minister Catherine Vautrin.
“And it’s strength on both sides of the Atlantic, fortified by readiness, shared military capabilities and an unwavering political will,” he added.
Hegseth did not explicitly mention the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran during the speech.
Although he spoke at the American cemetery, Hegseth did not attend the main international ceremony later Saturday afternoon commemorating the landings.
At that ceremony, French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu honored the “3,000 men barely 20 years old” who died on D-Day and said they gave “the breath of their youth and the sacrifice of their lives.”
Lecornu addressed an audience that included veterans from the United States and British Defense Minister John Healey. He praised the “resilience” of the United Kingdom during World War II and called the American people “this great people, friends of liberty.”
In remarks that appeared to respond to U.S. pressure for Europe to take greater responsibility for its defense, Lecornu said the continent must meet “the challenge of our generation” by building “our autonomy, our capacity to defend ourselves” against threats that are “getting closer, intensifying and multiplying.”
The Normandy landings took place June 6, 1944, and remain the largest amphibious military operation in history. A force of 6,939 ships carried 132,700 troops from the United States, Britain, Canada, Belgium, Norway and Poland onto 50 miles of heavily defended beaches in northern France.
The operation opened a western front against Nazi Germany and played a decisive role in the Allied victory. At the same time, Soviet forces were pressing Germany from the east, creating the military pressure that eventually brought the war in Europe to an end.
Hegseth’s D-Day remarks placed the anniversary inside the Trump administration’s larger foreign policy message: that alliances must be measured by action, Europe must confront migration and security threats directly, and peace depends on military strength rather than symbolic unity.
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