Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX) criticized Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth for ripping the “invasion” of Europe by Muslim immigrants during a speech honoring D-Day veterans, with the Texas conservative calling it “inappropriate.”

McCaul was asked about Hegseth’s speech during an interview on ABC’s This Week on Sunday.

“Well, as the son of a D-Day veteran, look, there’s a time and place for these issues of immigration,” McCaul told co-host Martha Raddatz. “That was not the day, the anniversary of D-Day.”

He continued:

I think out of respect to the veterans — myself being the son of a D-Day veteran — those remarks were out of place.

I think it should have been about their sacrifice, their service to their country, and what they did to protect the free world at a time of great peril against Nazi Germany.

That should’ve been the message — it always has been in the past. And quite frankly, I thought it was inappropriate.

McCaul’s answer followed Hegseth’s speech in Normandy, France a day earlier. Hegseth said it was not enough to merely praise the D-Day veterans — he said to truly honor them it will take “active vigilance” to protect what they fought for. But Hegseth said many European nations are failing that test.

“Sadly, today, different European beaches are stormed by different dangerous ideologies,” Hegseth said. “In Spain, Italy, Greece, Bulgaria — boats and men arrive. When will European capitals do something about that invasion?”

His answer comes after Europe’s Muslim population has grown substantially in the last few decades. Pew Research said there were 29.6 million Muslims on the continent in 1990, and recent estimates have that figure now around 45 million — a 55% increase.

Hegseth also used his speech to not-so-subtly bash NATO.

“The men buried here fought in a war-fighting alliance where every partner brought its full measure of industry, courage, and sacrifice, not empty slogans, not lavish summits, not communiques — real allies doing real things, taking real losses for a shared cause worth fighting and dying for,” Hegseth said. “Each nation pulled its weight. Each nation bled.”

Watch above.

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