The Justice Department said a Phoenix-based immigration lawyer has started a 45-day suspension after admitting that he abused the asylum system.

An attorney for the lawyer says the timeout stems from a widely used strategy to win legal status for long-term undocumented people.

The strategy is risky. A lawyer files an asylum application knowing it will likely be denied and that the government will move to deport their client. The client going into deportation proceedings unlocks a chance to seek a different kind of relief called Cancellation of Removal, which, if granted, also means a path to a green card.

Attorney Josh Bendor said his client, lawyer Jose A. Bracamonte, used this strategy to help the undocumented parents of disabled U.S. citizen children. Bendor said the government wanted to block Bracamonte from ever practicing immigration law again.

“They complained that it filled up the immigration courts with unnecessary cases,” Bendor said.

Court records say that Bracamonte admitted to breaking professional conduct rules, like filing asylum applications without evidence to support them.