This may be a stupid question, but

I actually agree with you, there's no reason they can't pull another boat or rather boats up to the passenger unloading ports and bring the passengers to land quicker.

that's true. So there's no ship that could come along side and evacuate the people? You can't tell me that there are no empty cargo ships or something that could lend a hand?

I agree, why is it so hard to send another ship and get those people off instead of wait fr it to be repaired.

Nimue, have you ever been on a cruise? They have doors just above water level that allow you to off-load passengers. They use these when they arrive at a destination without a large dock such as Belize. If you want to go on an excursion at the Belize detination, you off-load directly into another much much smaller boat for snorkeling, scuba, mangrove adventures, or even to be taken to shore.
So there is absolutely no reason they can't pull another boat near this one and off-load the passengers. Heck, they could even charter a plane back to the states thereby not transporting the people all the way to the US.
It's really not that complex - really. They know how to do it, they just aren't doing it. Instead they are being towed back to the US by 2 tugs at a VERY slow pace

You cant put two ships side by side at sea. The action of the waves would smash them into each other....

You evacuate with smaller boats. go back and forth like how they take people to shore when they dock. i'd be worrying about those people getting deathly ill from the non existent sanitation

the conditions are awful- i read on CNN that people are having to defecate in bags.

I think bc moving them is dangerous and not worth the risk if its not life threatening like a ship on fire. Getting that many peoplr into life boats, then to another ship, then unloaded....risky. They arent sailors on that ship accustomed to being sea....

and you absolutely CAN put two boats side by side. They aren't in hurricane seas, it normal conditions out there currently
(the cruise I went on WAS in hurricane seas - those are rough, other than that it is very manageable.