[xoxoxoBruce]

I've seen several government reps make that statement for justification in granting amnesty.

They were following him because they knew he had a truckload of dope. He knew they knew, so he stopped the truck and ran. One agent took off after him, while the other secured the truck and took off a minute or so later. The second agent crests the hill to see his partner prostrate and the perp fleeing. He fired once not thinking he hit anything.
Before they left the scene there were other agents including two supervisors there. Yes, he picked up the cartridge. They all Knew what happened and agreed to forget about it, to avoid a mountain of paper work, thinking the agent had missed.
The perp went home and bitched to the family who called a cousin that is an agent in another state. The cousin called homeland security and bitched. Homeland security railroaded the two agents for minor infractions.
The perp in a professional drug smuggler, not some poor peasant trying to get to the US to work for money, to care for his aged mother and 17 starving children.

Personally, I think Homeland Security has a standing deal with the Mexican mafia, to not shoot at them in exchange for a peaceful border that won't make waves for Cheney's White house. Too bad they didn't kill the fucker.