Italy’s far-right deputy prime minister, Matteo Salvini, has clashed with Richard Gere over the migrant crisis in the Mediterranean, suggesting the Hollywood star should house himself those stranded on rescue ships after the US actor urged the Italian government to “stop demonising asylum seekers”.

Gere who is currently on the island of Lampedusa, Sicily, after a visit onboard a Spanish NGO ship, Proactiva Open Arms, where he met some of the 160 migrants the vessel rescued in the strait of Sicily. The ship has been stuck for 10 days off Lampedusa due to Italy’s ban on landing migrants.

The 69-year-old actor appeared in a video message urging people to support the charity and the people onboard. “All hands onboard would have been lost,” Gere said in the video.

“So, the people you see here on this boat, they’re only here because of the donations to Open Arms for the work they do.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Richard Gere talking to migrants onboard the Proactiva Open Arms ship. Photograph: Valerio Nicolosi/AP

Last week, Gere, who was holidaying in Tuscany, travelled to Sicily and joined the charity to deliver food and supplies to the migrants.

“I already came to Lampedusa two or three years ago,” Gere said, “to visit the migrants hotspot so I knew the situation first-hand: they are people who have lived horrible stories, they have suffered a lot, they call them migrants but they are refugees who need help.”

Gere also compared the crisis in the Mediterranean and the prohibition of landing migrants with the Trump administration’s policies on the border with Mexico: “We have our problems with refugees coming from Honduras, Salvador, Nicaragua, Mexico … It’s very similar to what you are going through here,” he said.

“This has to stop everywhere on this planet now. And it will stop if we say so,” Gere said, adding that he doesn’t want to get into a political fight.

On Saturday, Salvini, who last year declared Italy’s ports closed to migrant rescue ships, replied to the actor: “Given this generous millionaire is voicing concern for the fate of the Open Arms migrants, we thank him.”

“He can take all the people aboard back to Hollywood, on his private plane,’’ Salvini said, “and support them in his villas. Thank you, Richard!”’

The Italian government has introduced a new security decree, drafted by Salvini, who is also the interior minister, that would mean NGO rescue boats bringing migrants to Italy without permission could face fines of up to €50,000 (£47,000).

The new bill, which has been described by aid groups as a “declaration of war against the NGOs who are saving lives at sea,” aims to put an end to aid groups’ rescue missions in the central Mediterranean.

Meanwhile, another rescue ship with migrants onboard is awaiting a safe port. The Ocean Viking, flying the Norwegian flag and operated by the NGOs Doctors Without Borders and SOS Méditerranée, has not been allowed to let the people disembark and was denied “entry, transit and parking in Italian waters”.

The boat has recovered more than 80 migrants – adults and children – most of Sudanese origin, off Libyan waters. It was the second 24-hour rescue operation conducted by the ship, which had already recovered 85 people.