Background
Sergio Sanchez Lozano and Maria Isabel Herrera Perez divorced in Mexico in two thousand and twenty-one, with Herrera Perez retaining full custody of their two sons. In two thousand and twenty-three, Herrera Perez brought their son M.A.S. to the United States for a pleasure trip and did not return him. Sanchez Lozano filed a petition under the Hague Convention for the child’s return, alleging wrongful retention. The district court found the retention wrongful but denied the return, citing that the child was well-settled in the United States and that returning him would place him in an intolerable situation due to the father’s cartel ties and substance abuse.
The court’s reasoning
The Fifth Circuit reviewed the district court’s factual findings for clear error. The court affirmed that the father had ties to a Mexican drug cartel, evidenced by his brother’s disappearance due to cartel involvement and the father’s admission of buying drugs. The court also upheld findings that the father is a cocaine addict who used the drug as recently as eight days before the hearing and abuses alcohol weekly. The court concluded that these facts established a grave risk that returning the child to Mexico would expose him to physical or psychological harm or place him in an intolerable situation. Because the grave risk exception was met, the court declined to address the well-settled exception.
What it means going forward
The decision reinforces that the grave risk exception under the Hague Convention can bar a child’s return when a parent’s involvement with drug cartels and severe substance abuse creates an intolerable environment for the child.