Carla Provost was appointed Thursday to chief of the U.S. Border Patrol, making her the first woman to lead the Department of Homeland Security’s largest component agency in the force’s 94-year history.
Provost has served for the past 15 months as acting chief of U.S. Border Patrol.
“Today, it is my sincere honor to publicly appoint Carla L. Provost to be the 18th chief of the United States Border Patrol,” CBP Commissioner Kevin McAleenan announced Thursday morning. “Carla is an agent’s agent … She’s come up through the ranks — earned each new role with hard work, perseverance, and her willingness to do whatever the Border Patrol and this agency asked of her to advance the mission.”
As deputy chief, Provost told the Washington Examiner she was not waiting for the green light or thinking about how to run the agency, but viewed herself as a “permanent” fixture at Border Patrol.
McAleenan credited her for lowering the number of use-of-force incidents, or those in which an agent uses his or her gun, over the past several years.
“I don’t know, commissioner, if it’s possible to be both humbled and proud at the same time, but those are certainly the emotions that I’m feeling,” Provost said during a press conference Thursday morning. “I’m profoundly grateful for every opportunity that has come my way and for the encouragement and the recognition that I have received along the way. And I couldn’t be prouder to have the opportunity to be the voice for the men and women on the front lines of the U.S. Border Patrol.”
Provost thanked her predecessors, as well as her parents, for leading her to this moment.
“The Border Patrol over the last 23 years has been a second family to me. And I have served and I continue to serve alongside some of the most amazing men and women in law enforcement,” Provost said.
Provost said her promotion to top agent was the result of women who “paved the way” for her and vowed she would not be the last woman to lead the organization. She also said the Border Patrol is specifically targeting women in its recruitment efforts in order to improve the percentage of women in the force.
“When it comes to recruitment of women … the Border Patrol has been about 5 percent women my entire career. But I can tell you, we are seeing many more women rise through the ranks and to senior positions and I believe this will help with recruitment. We are doing targeted recruitment to try to get more women engaged in the Border Patrol,” she added.
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