Carla Provost officially named first woman to lead Border Patrol

Calling it a "historic" announcement, CBP Commissioner Kevin McAleenan introduced her saying, "Carla is an agent's agent" and that he and the secretary have "unwavering confidence" in her ability to lead the agency.

"I don't know if it's possible to be both humbled and proud at the same time, but those are certainly the emotions I'm feeling," Provost said.

Reflecting on the historic nature of her appointment, she noted that "many women ... paved the way" for her appointment.

"I can guarantee you this, I may be the first female chief of the Border Patrol, but I am certain I will not be the last," Provost said.

She also said Border Patrol has the lowest rate of women serving in all of federal law enforcement, at roughly 5% throughout her time at the agency. She said she intends to improve recruitment of women at Border Patrol, which has historically struggled with both attracting applicants and retaining them.

"I can tell you, we are seeing many more women rise through the ranks and into senior positions and I believe this will help with the recruitment," she said, adding the agency is also doing targeted recruitment to attract more women. "The Border Patrol's difficult, we work in remote locations ... the work is dangerous and you're working alone at night a lot of times with your backup very, very far away, but we're doing things for our workforce."

She noted the department's attrition rate is down in the past year or two and that shows some "positive" signs.

More broadly, she said her vision for the Border Patrol is to make sure agents in the field are supported and have everything they need. In that vein, she included addressing what the administration calls "loopholes" in the law -- repeating the administration's priority of giving them more enforcement and deportation authority.