And it’s a shitty thing that they do that, but having ships out there that pick people up and bring them to Italy is not the answer either, as those people are facing mortal danger in the first place because they hope to get picked up.
Why are the rescue ships not dropping people off back in North Africa? Why is the crew claiming to fight for “the freedom of movement” and thus supporting illegal migration?
This is a false narrative pushed by right-wing media. By far the most boats make it across with zero help and people certainly do not hope to be picked up as that means they end up in often very shitty camps in countries they don’t want to stay in.
These rescue efforts are real, although of course the often unscrupulous people smugglers are known to care little about the risks involved.
Dropping them back off in Libya is not an option, as that is a highly unsafe country currently having a civil war and local criminal gangs are well known to torture and enslave migrants there.
Edit: and it is also false to say these are illegal immigrants. Even assuming some of them would not be accepted as asylum seekers according to existing laws, you can’t just assume so and many of them are genuine legal asylum seekers.