When President Donald Trump was elected, some attorneys began advising clients who had not yet applied for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals to wait until its future became clearer.

Now, as Trump has made it evident his administration intends to enforce immigration law more strictly despite leaving DACA intact, some attorneys are recommending applying to the program, which allows undocumented immigrants to obtain employment authorization but does not provide a path to citizenship, with more fervor than before.

The DACA program allows youths who were brought illegally to the country to have a legal presence in their community. The program allows them to live, work and go to school in the United States. It does not give them permanent resident status or put them on a path to citizenship.

It’s too early to tell what kind of impact the Trump administration has had on DACA applications. But available data for Connecticut — a state that has the 19th largest DACA-eligible population — reveal low application rates and a less-than-average approval rate since the August 2012 start of the program.

According to the Migration Policy Institute, which published its analysis of U.S. Census data in an August 2016 report, only about 5,000 of the state’s estimated 11,000 eligible undocumented immigrants had applied for deferred action as of March last year.

Randy Capps, who oversees the institute’s research on unauthorized immigrants and other U.S. programs, said the demography of Connecticut’s undocumented population likely is the reason for its 43 percent application rate.

Speaking in broad terms, Capps said DACA application rates are highest in states with large numbers of people originating in Mexico and Central America.

In general, he said, members of that population can’t get a green card through marriage or other family ties, and they face either a three- or a 10-year bar on applying to come to the country legally if they leave. That makes their desire to be approved for DACA high.

Other unauthorized populations, such as those who come from Asia or South America, are more likely to be waiting to marry someone with a green card, or to be lined up to get one themselves through a work opportunity, Capps said. They may see those options as more attractive than DACA, which prevents deportation but doesn’t give a person lawful status.

According to the institute’s estimates, about 43 percent of Connecticut’s undocumented population come from Mexico and Central America. Another 23 percent hail from South America. About 30 percent are from Asia, Europe/Canada/Oceania or the Caribbean.

Capps said whether there’s a spike in new DACA applicants this year depends on whether eligible groups who haven’t applied so far feel compelled to do so.

“On one hand, in the Trump administration, the only protected group right now is DACA participants,” he said. “But on the other hand, there have been stories of people who let their DACA status lapse for a few days and household members in the same households with DACA participants that have been arrested and detained.”

Sharing information about oneself could be dangerous for those who are unauthorized, he said, especially if Trump does end up revoking the executive order that created DACA.

“Someone would have to balance those two things and think about the risks and benefits, both of which are greater in the Trump administration,” Capps said.

The fact that undocumented immigrants who apply from Connecticut are slightly less likely to be approved for DACA is less easily explained.

According to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services data analyzed by The Day, initial and renewal DACA applications saw an 84.77 percent approval rate in Connecticut overall, with renewal applications slightly more likely to be approved.

[naviga:h3 class="article-head"]DACA applications by state[/naviga:h3]

[naviga:iframe frameborder="0" height="660" src="http://pirhoo.github.io/iframe-scaffolder/#/view?urls=Application%20rate%7Chttp%3A%252F%252Fcloud.highcharts.com%252Fembed%252Funuxyju%2CApplication%20approval%20rate%7Chttp%3A%252F%252Fcloud.highcharts.com%252Fembed%252Figipajo&active=0&sharing=1&autoplay=0&loop=1&layout=tabs&theme=default" width="100%"] [/naviga:iframe]

In total, 31 states had higher rates of approval than Connecticut, and almost 89 percent of all DACA applications were approved.

The state-by-state variation perplexed attorney Aleksandr Troyb, chairman of the Connecticut Chapter of the American Immigration Lawyers Association. He pointed out that just three centers nationwide review applications.

According to a USCIS spokesman, those are in Laguna Niguel, Calif.; Lincoln, Neb.; and St. Albans City, Vt.

“Unlike marriage or citizenship petitions, where field offices might have different interpretations of state law … DACA is not adjudicated at the local level,” Troyb said. “Because of that it’s interesting to see the distribution.”

Troyb said he and some colleagues hypothesized that states with strong grassroots movements, such as CT Students for a DREAM, may have more applicants who file on their own rather than through an attorney.

“I know I’ve had clients who filed on their own and received either a request for more evidence or an outright denial,” Troyb said.

All DACA applicants must provide an extensive amount of information proving things including their age, where they were when President Barack Obama signed the executive order and how long they’ve been in the country.

“We had to step in the second time, and then the cases were approved,” Troyb said.

The USCIS spokesman said the state where a requestor resides isn’t considered in determining whether to grant deferred action and the department couldn’t speculate on reasons for the variance.

As for whether eligible immigrants should file for DACA, Troyb said he and the colleagues he spoke with are saying yes.

“We’re giving them the same speech we have since day one: ‘Be mindful that it’s not a law, it’s an order, and it can be revoked at any time,’” he said. “But it hasn’t been revoked yet and probably won’t be for some time.”

l.boyle@theday.com