No. 22-3048 ___________________________

Eny Adamy Mejia Rodriguez

lllllllllllllllllllllPlaintiff - Appellee

v.

Dennys Antonio Reyes Molina

lllllllllllllllllllllDefendant - Appellant ____________

Appeal from United States District Court for the Southern District of Iowa - Central ____________

Submitted: November 15, 2023 Filed: March 25, 2024 ____________ Before COLLOTON,1 WOLLMAN, and BENTON, Circuit Judges. ____________ WOLLMAN, Circuit Judge.

After Dennys Antonio Reyes Molina (Reyes) wrongfully removed his daughter from Honduras to the United States, the child’s mother, Eny Adamy Mejia Rodriguez (Rodriguez), petitioned for the child’s return under the Hague Convention on the

1 Judge Colloton became chief judge of the circuit on March 11, 2024. See 28 U.S.C. § 45(a)(1). Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction, as implemented by the United States in the International Child Abduction Remedies Act (ICARA), 22 U.S.C. § 9001–9011. Reyes conceded wrongful removal, but argued that the child should not be returned because doing so would put her at grave risk of physical harm. After finding that Reyes had failed to prove any such grave risk by clear and convincing evidence, the district court2 ordered that the child be returned to Honduras. We affirm.

Reyes and Rodriguez are citizens of Honduras. Their daughter was born in July 2016 in Honduras, where she lived with both parents for the first four months of her life. When her parents separated, the child continued to live in Honduras with Rodriguez and Rodriguez’s son from a previous relationship.

Reyes took the child from her home on October 12, 2021. They walked from Honduras to Mexico, where Reyes paid someone to smuggle them into the United States. Reyes and the child settled in Des Moines, Iowa. All the while, Rodriguez attempted to secure the child’s return, eventually filing a petition in federal district court in the Southern District of Iowa.

Before holding an evidentiary hearing on Rodriguez’s petition, the district court entered an order instructing the parties “that the purpose of the proceedings is to adjudicate the petition pursuant to the Hague Convention and ICARA. It is not the role of the Court to adjudicate the merits of the underlying custody dispute.” D. Ct. Order of Aug. 3, 2022. Throughout the hearing, the court repeatedly directed the parties to focus on whether the child’s return would expose her to a grave risk of harm, reminding the parties that “[w]ho might be the better parent is not at issue” and that “this is not the custody battle.” Tr. 32.

2 The Honorable Stephanie M. Rose, Chief Judge, United States District Court for the Southern District of Iowa.

-2- Reyes submitted evidence in support of his position that the child should not be returned to Honduras. He testified that Rodriguez had struck the child with a broom when the child was two years’ old and that she had struck the child’s back with an open hand or fist on multiple occasions beginning when the child was four years’ old. According to Reyes, Rodriguez repeatedly hit the child with a belt after she had wet the bed, which caused the child to have additional similar incidents. Reyes testified that Rodriguez would not cease using physical punishment, despite his pleas that she do so, and that Rodriguez had hit him when he tried to intervene.

Reyes submitted eight photos that he had taken in early October 2021. The district court described five of the photos as showing signific