For the first time in the agency’s 94-year history, the U.S. Border Patrol will have a female chief, Carla Provost.

The new chief’s service record places her in border sectors in Texas, Arizona, and California.

Provost will take the reigns as the 18th chief after decades of active service in several positions. She first came on duty in January 1995 as a member of Class 277. Her initial station was in Douglas, Arizona, part of the Tucson Sector. She quickly rose up the ranks in 1998 with a promotion to Supervisory Border Patrol Agent and then Field Operations Supervisor in 2001. By 2006, Provost was transferred to the Yuma Sector as an Assistant Chief Patrol Agent. She was agent in charge of the Welton Station in Yuma in 2009 and later served as Deputy Chief Patrol Agent of the El Paso Sector in 2011. Two years later, she led 1,200 employees in the California El Centro Sector. Shortly before her ultimate promotion, she worked as the Deputy Assistant Commissioner of Internal Affairs and Acting Chief.

Provost won numerous awards throughout her tenure and also served as a firearms and post-academy law instructor.

The new chief hopes her role will encourage more women to join the green line, according to AZ Central.

“The Border Patrol has been at about 5 percent of women my entire career … But I can tell you we are seeing more and more women rise through the ranks and into senior positions. And I believe that this will help with the recruitment.”

Before the Border Patrol, Provost was a police officer in Manhattan, Kansas. She holds a master’s degree in National Resource Strategy from National Defense University and a bachelor of science in criminal justice from Kansas State University.

Chief Provost will assume full command amid a spike in illegal border crosser apprehensions along the southwestern U.S.-Mexico Border. Breitbart Texas reported on numerous metrics officially released this week demonstrating short-term improvements in July 2018, yet year-over-year figures show current illegal crossing far exceeding tallies seen in 2017. Unaccompanied minors caught in the various border sectors were down 23 percent in July 2018, yet are up 58 percent over the same month in 2017. Family Unit Alien apprehensions were up 173 percent in July 2018 over last year.

The chief will also confront the increasingly troubling trend of Bangladeshi nationals illegally crossing between ports of entry in Texas. In the Laredo Sector alone, more than 500 crossed thus far in Fiscal Year 2018, Breitbart Texas reported on Tuesday.

Officials in the Laredo Sector hailed Provost’s latest career advancement.

“I have no doubt that the U.S. Border Patrol will be in excellent hands under her leadership,” Laredo Sector Acting Chief Patrol Agent Jason D. Owens said.

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