In a new migrant standoff, Italy’s Salvini blocks two NGO boats.

Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini said on Tuesday he was working to prevent two rescue ships operated by French and Spanish charities from bringing more than 500 migrants to Italy in the latest Mediterranean stand-off.

The Ocean Viking, which is run by French non-governmental groups (NGOs) Doctors Without Borders and SOS Mediterranee, has picked up some 356 migrants off the coast of Libya since Friday, while Spanish boat Open Arms has saved some 160 people.

Both vessels are in the central Mediterranean, within easy sailing distance of the Italian island of Lampedusa and are seeking a safe port to disembark the mainly African migrants.

But Salvini, the leader of the far-right League who has seen his popularity in Italy soar since he took office last year and launched a fierce anti-immigration crackdown, said on Tuesday the boats were not Rome’s problem.

“I am at work in the ministry this morning to prevent more than 500 migrants from disembarking from two NGO boats, one French and one Spanish,” Salvini wrote on Facebook.

“I will let you know how this ends. I will not give up.”

Earlier this month, Salvini introduced a new law hiking fines for ships that enter Italian waters without authorization to up to 1 million euros ($1.12 million). It also provides for the arrest of captains who ignore orders to stay away and calls on naval authorities to seize their boats automatically.

Salvini said Libya had offered to take back the migrants aboard the Ocean Viking and said Open Arms should go to Spain.

Doctors Without Borders has ruled out taking migrants to violence-plagued Libya, saying migrants are routinely tortured and abused there. Open Arms has called for the European Union to coordinate the re-distribution of the migrants around the bloc.

The United Nations’ refugee agency called on European governments to intervene, warning that storms were approaching.

Spain said Italy should deal with immediate care.

Latest figures say 4,265 migrants have reached Italy so far in 2019, down 78 percent on the same period in 2018 and down 96 percent on 2017 levels.