“The numbers don’t lie — but they do tell a story that few people are ready to hear.” — Julia Gelatt, Migration Policy Institute The Headline Number That Changed Everything: 8.3 Million USCIS Approvals in 2025 When the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) released its full-year data for 2025, one number immediately cut through the noise: 8.3 million immigration approvals. On the surface, that sounds substantial — nearly as many people as live in New York City. But context is everything. In 2024, under the Biden administration, USCIS had approved 11.4 million applications. That means 2025 saw a 27%…