Border Patrol's Wellton Station gets new chief

  Carla Provost, a 14-year veteran of the U.S. Border Patrol, assumed command Wednesday of the patrol's Wellton Station.

  Provost comes to the station from the patrol's Yuma Sector Headquarters, where she has served since 2006 as an assistant chief.

  In her new post, she will oversee about 300 agents assigned to provide border security in an area extending from the Foothills to the Yuma-Pima County line.

  "That station is an integral part of the Yuma Sector's enforcement operations," sector spokesman Agent Michael Bernacke said.

  The sector takes in the area from the southeastern tip of California to Pima County. Besides the Wellton Station, it includes the sector headquarters plus stations in Yuma and Blythe.

  Provost began her career with the Border Patrol in January 1995 when she went on duty at the patrol's Douglas Station, the patrol said in a news release. While there, Provost was promoted to supervisory Border Patrol agent and later to field operations supervisor. 

  During her tenure in Douglas, she oversaw all of the patrol's specialty units, including Field Training and Bike Patrols, and Interior Repatriation Program.

  Also while serving as field operations supervisor at Douglas Station, she was detailed to the patrol's headquarters in Washington, D.C., where she oversaw a nationwide alien repatriation program

  Working in the Office of Policy and Planning in a separate assignment, she coordinated with the Office of Internal Affairs and the General Accounting Office in performing audits of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the agency that oversees the Border Patrol.

  Provost holds a bachelor's degree in sociology and criminal justice from Kansas State University, plus a master's degree in national resource strategy from the Industrial College of the Armed Forces at the National Defense University in Washington, D.C.