“Are they going to be deported or not?” It seems like a simple question, but — surprise of surprises — it’s one that the Obama administration refuses to answer. DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson sat down with NBC’s David Gregory over the holiday weekend, in an attempt to clarify the way forward on illegal immigration for Obama and pals. Now that we know the president is readying up a tasty plate of executive orders on the issue, the uncertainty about the handling of illegals — and particularly, the children of illegals — is becoming a central concern.

“We are taking a number of steps to address it, including turning people around faster,” insisted Secretary Johnson. “We’ve already dramatically reduced the turnaround time, the deportation time for adults. We’re asking this week from Congress to bring on additional capacity, and we’re cracking down on the smuggling organizations.”

As Secretary Johnson continued bumbling and fumbling his way through a response to explain what will happen to the children of illegal migrants, even Gregory began to get irritated with all of the obfuscation. “It sounds like a very careful response,” remarked the NBC host.

The growing outrage over an unsecured border comes as the Obama administration is being accused by Arizona’s Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, among others, of intentionally “dumping” illegals in California and elsewhere, in order to shore up support for expediting amnesty. Arpaio has even been calling for militarizing the border if necessary and relinquishing foreign aid to Mexico.

Still, the administration insists that they have only the best intentions. “The goal of the administration is to stem the tide,” stated Johnson during his Meet the Press interview. Critics would point out that if the Obama White House were indeed serious about addressing the border problem, we’d hear many more concrete proposals, rather than the slippery “CYA” statements that have been provided to date. Secretary Johnson has repeatedly said that the goal is to deal with illegals in a “humanitarian and fair way.” But without specifics, Republicans are understandably expressing cynicism about what that really means.