Kristi Noem, the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, recently suggested that the Trump administration will look into prosecuting local officials who do not comply with President Donald Trump's effort to deport illegal immigrants from America. 

Noem, though, as the Daily Mail reports, was extremely reluctant to give a straight answer to the question of whether these officials would see legal ramifications for their actions.

This all comes not long after Noem was confirmed by the U.S. Senate to lead the DHS. It was a 59 to 34 vote in her favor.

Since then, Noem has joined in the deportation efforts currently being led by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers.

"Listen..."

Noem was asked about how the Trump administration plans to handle uncooperative local officials during a recent interview with the Fox News Channel's Laura Ingraham. Ingraham did not go easy on Noem.

When asked whether the Trump administration would go after local officials, Noem replied, "Yeah, we are still going into their communities."

Here, Ingraham interrupted her because, obviously, she was not answering the question. "How about with the officials that interfere with federal law enforcement?" Ingraham asked.

Noem replied, "You know, they will. But the federal government has the authority to go in and to make their communities safer, especially these that are perpetuating dangerous."

Noem, again, did not respond to the question, so Ingraham, again, asked, "But what about these officials who get in your way? Will there be repercussions for them personally?" Noem gave another non-answer, saying:

The reality is these sanctuary cities their laws have caused us problems. They are limiting some of our tools that we want in our toolbox, but we’re going to continue to go in and use our operations and then show in other cities how it’s working, and tell our story to the American people

"I expect an answer"

Ingraham, at this point, got annoyed with Noem's refusal to answer the question.

So, Ingraham said:

But will you go after them personally? I’m going to ask for the third time? I’m asking a question because I expect an answer. Will you go after these individual mayors who are saying essentially they are going to thwart federal authority? You guys have the authority over immigration enforcement, they don’t.

This finally got Noem to budge.

She replied:

Listen, Laura: Nobody is above the law. Of course we will. But that’s up to President Trump. President Trump gives us the direction. I don’t sit here and make up a decision on what do. I follow the law. That’s my job. We treat everybody the same in this country now that we have President Trump in the White House, and is he going to give us direction on how we are going to go after these individuals.

Why it was so difficult to get to this answer is unclear.