Identity

Let Me See Your Papers

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Some people don’t seem to grasp the reality that Department of Homeland Security agents, be they ICE or CBP, have no authority to demand a U.S. Citizen produce identification. TSA agents are, of course, an exception when someone is passing through airport security. Customs and Border Protection can naturally require identification at border crossings. That’s the extent to which DHS agents can compel a U.S. Citizen to produce identification. The purview of DHS agents is strictly restricted when it concerns U.S. Citizens.

Hell, no Law Enforcement agency has authorization to require a U.S. Citizen produce identification unless they’re operating a vehicle, lawfully detained, or under reasonable suspicion of a crime. Even in States with “Stop and Identify” Laws on the books, those only apply if there’s reasonable suspicion of criminal activity. It’s worth noting that refusal to produce identification does not, in and of itself, constitute reasonable suspicion. There is no legal requirement for any U.S. Citizen to carry any identification.

I mention all of this because, while discussing ICE overstepping their legal restrictions, I had an old friend try to insist that people only fail to identify themselves if they’re attempting to avoid being picked up on a Warrant. Further, he suggested that refusing to comply with ICE or CBP requests to produce an ID constitutes obstruction. This clearly displayed two things for me. The first being that the individual in question has no comprehension of what “obstruction” means. The second, he fails to grasp that ICE and CBP have more restrictions regarding interactions with U.S. Citizens than other Law Enforcement Agencies (including local police), not fewer.

This same person attempted to state that Constitutional Rights do not apply to non-citizens, which leads me to suspect that the educational system has dramatically failed.

The Supreme Court clearly disagrees with his claim. Constitutional Rights to all “persons” within the United States have been upheld by the Supreme Court several times, starting in 1886, with Yick Wo v. Hopkins. Decisions in 1982 and 2001 further guaranteed this interpretation of the U.S. Constitution. I suppose I shouldn’t be too harsh in my judgment of him, since President Trump seems to be similarly lacking in comprehension of Constitutional Rights and their application. Of course, the list of things President Trump comprehends would be woefully short. The same applies to many members of his Administration.

In case anyone needs further clarification, it has been decided that any “person” (U.S. Citizens, documented, or undocumented immigrants) within the United States is protected by the Constitution and they are entitled to the same “standards of fairness encompassed in due process of law.”

It’s not the protesters or citizen witnesses who are violating the law; it’s the agents working for DHS who are violating the Constitutional Rights granted to even those who have entered this nation unlawfully. I would go so far as to say that their crime is far more egregious than that of one who has overstayed a visa or illegally crossed the border, because neither of those crimes violates the rights of anyone within the United States. If not criminal, what does one call a member of Law Enforcement who breaks the law? Are they not bound by the same set of rules and restrictions as the rest of us?

Billy Summers by Stephen King

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Billy Summers is, in my opinion, the best book Stephen King’s written in a great many years. It also stands out as being one of the best non-horror books of 2021, probably of the past few years at the very least. I’m not one of those to denigrate King just because he’s King; there’s a reason he’s perhaps the best-selling horror author of all time. He knows what he’s doing, even if I sometimes question his ability to stick the landing concerning his endings. Botched endings aside, most of his oeuvre is pretty well stellar, and even the material that hasn’t aged well is still worth diving into.
With Billy Summers, while there are passing references to supernatural forces within the world (commentary on The Overlook Hotel), King has made what I consider to be his most pronounced deviation from the realm of horror and the supernatural. Beneath the surface, this novel has a lot to say about the subjective nature of morality, the fluidity of identity and self-identity, the importance of memory, and the relationships we develop in our lives. None of that overshadows the surface-level compelling narrative of Billy and Alice.
Billy is an almost unnaturally skilled killer. While he’s an expert with firearms, he’s written with such humanity and depth that he never crosses the line into being a caricature of the action heroes from film and television. Highly literate, prone to in-depth analysis of both himself and those around him, and always planning, Billy has nevertheless immersed himself within a character he refers to as his “dumb self” when interacting with the criminals for whom he acts as a shooter. Providing his employers with a false sense of confidence derived from apparent superiority has allowed Billy to avoid being perceived as a threat, and it’s potentially kept him alive through the years.
When Billy accepts what he imagines to be one last job, he’s provided with a long-term identity that brings to the surface a dream he’d never expected to pursue. As time passes and Billy immerses himself deeper within the fictional identity, he begins noticing some disturbing signs that everything might not be as smooth as expected when the time comes to complete the job. Thankfully for Billy, he’s much smarter and more capable than the people who hired him.
As Murphy’s Law takes over and anything that can go wrong does go wrong, Billy finds himself in a complex paternal relationship with a damaged young woman. As they help one another heal, Billy learns that he’s still got one last job to complete, and it’s far more dangerous than the one he’d signed up for.
The pacing is superb, and the balance of character study with narrative as we find ourselves led by King to the conclusion of the tale is about as perfect as one could hope to experience.
Paul Sparks expertly tackles the audiobook narration, thoroughly capturing the different sides of Billy as he slips from identity to identity throughout the story. He additionally captures the secondary characters well enough that there’s never any doubt who we’re hearing in the dialogue. Sparks exhibits fantastic cadence as he guides us along the path King has carved for us to follow.