In 2023, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and Minnesota joined a growing list of states that allow undocumented immigrants to obtain driver’s licenses if an applicant can provide certain documentation, such as a foreign birth certificate or passport and evidence of current residency in the state. Altogether, 19 states and the District of Columbia have similar legislation in place. And lawmakers in other states, such as Michigan and Oklahoma, have introduced similar legislation.
In many cases, these laws were passed based on the premise that they would keep the roads safer by allowing undocumented immigrants to drive legally and obtain insurance. However, new research from Washington University in St. Louis provides evidence that these laws also indirectly improve the overall health and well-being of immigrant mothers and their babies.
The research, published in the Journal of Health and Social Behavior, found that implementing license laws is associated with improvements in birth weight—a critical measure of early development with long-term health implications—for babies born to Mexican and Central American immigrants.
The authors also noted a decline in preterm birth rates between 2008 and 2021 in states that enacted license laws compared with those that did not, though rates in both groups declined over time.
“Our study’s findings underscore how states’ extension of legal rights to immigrants can improve the health of the next generation,” said Margot Moinester, study co-author and an assistant professor of sociology in Arts & Sciences at WashU.
“Previous research has demonstrated that restrictive immigration policies and practices contribute to poor health outcomes for immigrant families, but our study is among the first to demonstrate a positive relationship between inclusive immigration policies and improved health.”