Two things happened to the U.S. immigration system this summer, and most coverage has treated them as separate stories. They aren't. USCIS's backlog just hit a record 11.3 million pending cases, denial rates in several high-skilled categories have more than doubled in a year — and as of August 5, the agency gave its own officers the green light to deny your case outright, without warning, if your paperwork isn't airtight the first time. Slower, stricter, and less forgiving, a