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Yes, the reason for no return fire against frie from across the river is administrative procedures which are engendered by political ideology. Border Patrol SOP for discharging a weapon is: #1 defense of an Agent's life or #2 defense of an innocent thrid party. Firing at people, shadows or muzzle flashes across the Line will result in the Agent's being fired (if Sector-level people hear of it). The mind-set is: "if they're across the Line, increase the distance between you and them so they'll continue to miss".

I don't wish to complicate the issue, but also in play are the political paranoia which seems to have gripped the Border Patrol brass since (at least) the Johnson administration up to the present day. At one point, under Carter's administration, spies/informants were "engaged" by the Commissioner to be in places and under circumstances that would ensure their arrest by Border Patrol Agents. The purpose of their engagement was to determine the level (if any) of brutality experienced by persons arrested by the Border Patrol.

There are collateral financial reasons that fuel the Border Patrol administration's political paranoia. But suffice it to say that from my entrance on duty to the day of my retirement, the "body count" from unfriendly fire resulted in more wounded or dead Agents than wounded or dead smugglers. This is not because of a lack of training provided the Agents - theirs is the best. It is because of politically-driven administrative policies.