Paris Hilton Testifies Against Surprise Detainment Of Troubled Youths

(Source: MIRS.news, Published 03/17/2026) Sleeping teens are awakened and snatched by adult strangers, who handcuff them, put them in a vehicle and drive them away – all at the request of parents at their wits’ end.

Elizabeth Bennett-Faucett, right, tearfully testified March 17, 2026, before the House Families and Veterans Committee about being transported by two strangers to a therapeutic boarding school in Mexico when she was 16-years-old. Bennett-Faucett and Kyra Frankowski, left, both testified in support of HB 5514. (Screenshot of House video)

At 16, Elizabeth Bennett-Faucett’s screams and pleas to stay in America were ignored as two women transported her to a therapeutic boarding school in Mexico, where teenagers were sexually and physically abused, and where the therapy and education promised to their parents were absent.

“At almost 42, I still remember the fear of my 16-year-old self as if it happened yesterday,” Bennett-Faucett, of Ortonville, told the House Families and Veterans Committee today, “… I was not a juvenile delinquent. I was a child who had become depressed and suicidal after three classmates at my former school spread life-altering rumors about me and repeatedly antagonized me, telling me to kill myself."

“My parents made this choice because they thought they were helping me and they had me transported because they were told this was the safest way to get me to treatment,” she said, “I went into Mexico struggling to overcome bullies and came out with a lifelong trauma that I fight against every day and every night.”

These authorized kidnappings are the impetus behind HB 5514, sponsored by Rep. Cam Cavitt (R-Cheboygan), who testified that a constituent’s 12-year-old child was shackled and handcuffed before being transported to a Missouri treatment facility.

Cavitt said his bill would protect children during transport – done by a youth transportation company – to residential childcare programs by prohibiting the use of blindfolds, handcuffs or other restraints, except in true emergencies where there is immediate risk of harm to either the teen or others.

An H-1 substitute, which the committee passed 11-0, strengthens the bill by defining a youth residential treatment program and by prohibiting pickups between 9 p.m. and 6 a.m.

“This legislation,” Cavitt said, “ensures children are treated with dignity while still allowing limited train use of restraints only when necessary.”

A person found violating the bill would be subject to a civil fine of up to $1,000 and the attorney general or local prosecutor could bring action to collect that fine within 10 years of the date of the violation, according to the bill.

Rep. Erin Byrnes (D-Dearborn) questioned how youth transport companies are licensed and funded.

Bennett-Faucett replied that there is no licensing and thus, no regulation. She said her mother paid $7,000 a month for the facility she was taken to and that the company is no longer operating under the same name, as such companies often change their names.

Testifying in support of the bill were socialite Paris Hilton and Caroline Cole, strategic advocacy lead for Hilton’s 11:11 Media, both of whom shared their story about being taken in the middle of the night to a teen facility.

“I was handcuffed and carried out of my home while I screamed for help,” Hilton said in a pre-recorded statement, “I truly believed I was being kidnapped. … I promise there is nothing therapeutic about being woken up by strangers, physically restrained and taken across the country against your will. …"

“I urge you to support HB 5514 and help protect vulnerable youths across Michigan,” Hilton said.

Rep. Joseph Pavlov (R-Kimball Township), who said he’s working on a bill that would prevent positional asphyxiation for bouncers, questioned who would provide for and pay for the transporters’ training.

Cole equated it to a person who wanted to be a doctor or a teacher. They have to fund their education. Likewise, a person who chooses the responsibility of transporting children to treatment should assume any financial responsibility “to make sure that they are truly equipped to do the job and the work that they say that they’re going to do.”