California is one of several states that allows undocumented immigrants get driver’s licenses. (Hal Bergman/iStock via Getty Images Plus)
When states give driver’s licenses to undocumented immigrants, it affects nondrivers, too — even the littlest ones. Babies born to immigrants from Mexico and Central America are bigger and healthier in states that make that change, our research shows . The longer a law is in effect before a baby is conceived, the stronger the effect.
We are a sociologist and an epidemiologist who examined the birth records of more than 4 million babies born to Mexican and Central American immigrants who lived in states that adopted expanded driver’s license policies between 2008 and 2021…