The unhappy plight of a ship in the Mediterranean raises important questions for European and American policymakers. That ship is Aquarius, operated by the non-governmental organization Medecin San Frontieres. It contains more than 600 asylum seekers picked up from the coast of Libya. The ship’s requests to dock in Rome and Valletta have been denied by the Italian government.

Although the Italian Coast Guard appears ready to supply the ship with food and water, government authorities—under the direction of interior minister Matteo Salvini, one of the country’s two de facto leaders and a member of the right-wing Northern League—are adamant that Aquarius will not dock in an Italian port. Spain has offered the ship safe harbor, and the mayors of several Italian port cities have said they will defy the government’s decision, but by late Monday it was not clear where the boat would go.