Case Name: Raul MORALES, Petitioner, v. Eric H. HOLDER, Jr., Attorney General, Respondent
Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
Jurisdiction: United States
Decision Date: 2013-03-26
Citations: 514 F. App'x 672
Docket Number: No. 11-72440
Parties: Raul MORALES, Petitioner, v. Eric H. HOLDER, Jr., Attorney General, Respondent.
Judges: Before: THOMAS and HURWITZ, Circuit Judges, and BEISTLINE, Chief District Judge.
Reporter: West's Federal Appendix
Volume: 514
Pages: 672–673

Head Matter:
Raul MORALES, Petitioner, v. Eric H. HOLDER, Jr., Attorney General, Respondent.
No. 11-72440.
United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit.
Submitted March 6, 2013.
Filed March 26, 2013.
Elsa Ines Martinez, Esquire, Law Offices of Elsa Martinez, PLC, Los Angeles, CA, Petitioner.
OIL, Katherine Ann Smith, DOJ-U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Division/Office of Immigration Litigation, Washington, DC, Chief Counsel ICE, Office of the Chief Counsel, Department of Homeland Security, San Francisco, CA, for Respondent.
Before: THOMAS and HURWITZ, Circuit Judges, and BEISTLINE, Chief District Judge.
The panel unanimously concludes this case is suitable for decision without oral argument. See Fed. R.App. P. 34(a)(2).
The Honorable Ralph R. Beistline, Chief District Judge for the U.S. District Court for the District of Alaska, sitting by designation.

Opinion:
MEMORANDUM
Raul Morales petitions for review of two Board of Immigration Appeals decisions denying his claims for asylum, withholding of removal, cancellation of removal, and protection under the Convention Against Torture, and not reaching his challenge to the withdrawal of his Temporary Protected Status.
I
We lack jurisdiction to review the Board's discretionary denial of Morales's application for cancellation of removal. See 8 U.S.C. § 1252(a)(2)(B)(i); Bermudez v. Holder, 586 F.3d 1167, 1169 (9th Cir. 2009) (per curiam).
II
The Board did not err in finding Morales ineligible for asylum and withholding because he failed to establish a nexus to a protected ground. Substantial evidence supports the Board's conclusion that Morales faced danger not because of his membership in his claimed "particular social group" of his family, but because of his highly publicized and substantial legal settlement. Persecution based on perceived wealth alone is not directed at a cognizable social group. See Delgado-Ortiz v. Holder, 600 F.3d 1148 (9th Cir.2010) (per cu-riam) (returning Mexicans from the United States were not a cognizable social group).
III
Substantial evidence supports the Board's decision denying Morales relief under the Convention Against Torture. Although the 2009 State Department Report describes harsh conditions in El Salvador's prisons, and mentions extortion and corruption, Morales has not demonstrated that he will more likely than not be tortured if he is imprisoned upon his return to El Salvador.
IV
The Board did not address Morales's claim regarding Temporary Protected Status (TPS). "The BIA is not free to ignore arguments raised by a petitioner." Hu v. Holder, 652 F.3d 1011, 1020 (9th Cir.2011) (internal quotation marks, citation, and alterations omitted). Morales adequately exhausted this claim in his second brief to the Board by restating his interest in TPS and referring to his first brief, in which he had fully briefed the TPS issue. This briefing was "sufficient to put the BIA on notice" that Morales challenged the denial of TPS. See Zhang v. Ashcroft, 388 F.3d 713, 721 (9th Cir.2004). Therefore, we grant the petition and remand for the Board to consider Morales's TPS claim in the first instance. See INS v. Ventura, 537 U.S. 12, 16, 123 S.Ct. 353, 154 L.Ed.2d 272 (2002) (per curiam).
Each party shall bear their own costs.
PETITION DISMISSED in part; DENIED in part; GRANTED and REMANDED in part.
This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent except as provided by 9th Cir. R. 36-3.