The effect of an employer withdrawal of an I-140 depends on the employee's processing stage at the time of the withdrawal. There are three significant "break points" for purposes of this discussion:

• First, the employer withdraws the I-140 before it is approved.

• Second, the employer withdraws the I-140 after it has been approved.

• Third, the employer withdraws the I-140 more than 180 days after the employee has filed for adjustment of status.

Let's look at these situations individually.

Not likely. The President spoke this morning about the need to "fix our broken immigration system." The problem is that his involvement at this time is simply too little, too late. Had he stepped up in a big way last December or January, he might have made a difference. At that time, there were some Republican senators who were willing to help push Comprehensive Immigration Reform (CIIR) through. They wanted the President to step up and provide both leadership and political cover for them. He didn't do this.

In a word: good. It is now clear that the Comprehensive Immigration Reform bill is dead. The good news is that this has broken the logjam that was holding up smaller immigration bills. One of the most important of these, visa recapture, is now a strong candidate for passage before the end of this year.