The secretary of the Department of Homeland Security is defending his job performance amid an illegal immigration crisis unprecedented in American history.

In an interview with CNN's Chris Wallace on Friday, DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas rejected demands by congressional Republicans for his resignation, according to Homeland Security Today, a nonprofit that covers security issues.

"Number one, I’m not going to resign," Mayorkas told Wallace on CNN's "Who's Talking to Chris Wallace?"

Several Republican lawmakers have floated Mayorkas as a target for impeachment, citing the torrent of illegal immigration penetrating the southern border.

DHS has hired private attorneys to represent the department and Mayorkas personally in congressional proceedings, according to Politico.

No "outside law firm" will protect Mayorkas from impeachment.

We won't stop until he is removed from office. https://t.co/1oNDDefwM7

— Rep Andy Biggs (@RepAndyBiggsAZ) February 10, 2023

Mayorkas went on to demand that Congress pass amnesty legislation for illegal aliens.

"Number two, I call upon Congress, as the president has done, as this nation has done, to actually fix an immigration system that has been broken for decades,” Mayorkas told Wallace, according to Homeland Security Today.

Mayorkas also defended DHS programs that allow the mass catch-and-release of asylum seekers that arrive at the southern border, claiming that the United States was a "place of refuge" for those who qualify for asylum.

“We in the United States, have tremendous pride in our country as a country, a place of refuge. We are a nation of immigrants. We are also a nation of laws," Mayorkas said, according to Breitbart.

“Those laws provide for humanitarian relief, for those who qualify. They also provide that individuals who do not qualify will be removed.

"That’s how we do our work in the Department of Homeland Security.”

Customs and Border Protection apprehended a record-setting number of illegal aliens at the southern border in the government's 2022 fiscal year, which ended Sept. 30. That broke the record set just the year before, according to the Center for Immigration Studies.

The asylum approval rate has steadily increased under Mayorkas and President Joe Biden, according to the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, a nonprofit data and research organization based at Syracuse University.

That gives those who cross the border a greater chance of permanent residency, leading to American public services and welfare.

The process for impeaching a cabinet secretary is similar to that of impeaching a president, requiring a majority vote in the House of Representatives and a conviction by a two-thirds vote in the Senate

However, it's even more rarely used.

Congress hasn't sought to remove a cabinet member since 1876, according to Politico.

During the interview, Mayorkas said he takes the calls for his impeachment "seriously."

Chris Wallace: "If House Republicans go ahead, you could be the first cabinet secretary to be impeached since 1876. How seriously do you take these calls for your impeachment?"

Mayorkas: "I take them seriously." pic.twitter.com/7zkj02ARUp

— Kevin Tober (@KevinTober94) February 20, 2023

"I don't dismiss it by any measure," he said.

"But what I do is, I focus on my work."

This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.