I guess the freezing means freezing approvals, not freezing working on I-485? Just like audit time, officer still work on it. There are too many stages in I-485. Maybe they can work on other things on an I-485, but leaving the check to be done afterward. As soon as the check is fine, the approval is sent. I hope INS should work this way to be efficient. But INS staff may take this excuse to buy their holiday gifts.