Luis David Fuentes swept the floors of a Shelbyville manufacturing plant for $6 an hour—not exactly the best job for a mechanical engineer. But he never felt sorry for himself. He was content, happy, independent.
“I was free. I never looked back,” Fuentes said. “I had tasted freedom as a migrant to the United States. No government was overlooking everything I did. I was in the land of opportunity—no longer in Cuba but in Kentucky.”
Fuentes took advantage of that opportunity and became a professional environmental engineer for the Commonwealth of Kentucky, a member of the Kentucky Human Rights Commission, and a prominent businessman as founder of El Kentubano, a free magazine for Cuban migrants in Kentucky, taking its name from “Kentuckian” and “Cubano.” (The June issue of the successful magazine, replete with a variety of ads, was 108 pages.)
This year, Fuentes the businessman spearheaded an effort approved by the Kentucky General Assembly for the state to spend $1.5 million for a five-year law clinic at the University of Louisville. It is to provide critical legal services to the growing immigrant population, teach law students necessary skills to successfully practice law, and develop a pipeline of immigration law attorneys.
The special law clinic is for all immigrants, but its impetus was the burgeoning Cuban population in Jefferson, the state’s most populous county.
A Destination for Immigrants
The New York Times reported this year that at least 30,000 immigrants from Cuba live in Louisville, and many have arrived within the last two years, primarily a direct result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Other factors prompting immigration include economic difficulties and a lack of human rights protections on the island nation.
Those population gains made Louisville the largest American entry portal for Cubans outside of Florida, said Fuentes.
The American Immigration Council, a nonprofit in Washington, D.C., that advocates for immigrants, stated that Kentucky has about 184,100 immigrants, with Louisville recording more than one-third of them. They make up approximately 5.4 percent of the state’s labor force. The United States has some 46 million immigrants, making up about 13.7 percent of the nation’s population.
Kentucky Refugee Ministries, a nonprofit dedicated to providing resettlement services to refugees, says that 28 Cubans per day have come to Louisville through the ministries and Catholic Charities of Louisville since 2021. That means more than 30,000 Cubans arrived in the state’s largest city during the last three years. An undetermined number of Cubans, probably in the thousands, have moved from Florida to Kentucky.
From Oct. 1, 2023, to May 20 of this year, 6,495 Cubans resettled in Louisville. That far surpasses the 822 from the Congo, 549 from Haiti and 100 from Syria.
In June, state legislators at a committee meeting in Frankfort asked various Kentucky agencies—from Kentucky State Police to the Department of Education—about the number of undocumented immigrants in the state but found such information hard to find. Due to federal law and court decisions, some state agencies cannot ask for information regarding a person’s immigration status or ethnicity.
Before lawmakers approved the $1.5 million appropriation to the UofL Law School for a clinic to help immigrants, they asked several questions, trying to ensure the clinic was for immigrants who are in the country legally with proper documentation.
The immigration council said that Kentucky immigrants pay about $2 billion a year in taxes. Most in the work force are younger, on average, than other state citizens. “With this law clinic at UofL to help more immigrants in fulfilling their work requirements, we will see more tax-paying immigrants and probably more U.S. citizens,” Fuentes said.
Two of every five immigrants in Kentucky—including Fuentes—are naturalized U.S. citizens.
Fuentes said he is proud of how his fellow immigrants have adjusted to moving from a completely different system and society. “[The immigrants] never heard of credit cards, insurance, business accounts, marketing, tax, 401K, internet and so on,” he said. “Cubans have proven to be a very successful community with a large number of professionals and small business owners.”
State Rep. Nima Kulkarni, an immigration attorney in Louisville, said the clinic is “a very welcome addition” for legal services for immigrants. She said Louisville has a shortage of immigration attorneys, and many migrants don’t know how to contact attorneys or how to pay for them. “This is going to help a lot of different people,” she said.
How the Law Clinic Will Work
“I met with Mr. Fuentes, and he told me of the struggles of immigrants,” said state Sen. Mike Nemes, a Republican from Shepherdsville and deputy secretary of the state Labor Cabinet during the administration of Gov. Matt Bevin. “I considered what Mr. Fuentes was saying was a win-win situation for the state and for immigrants seeking legal help.
“This law clinic will remove the obstacles to lawful residence for a community with a strong work ethic to contribute to the overall economy in Kentucky.”
Nemes said Senate President Robert Stivers, R-Manchester, got on board and helped guide the appropriation through the legislature. “This law clinic is a tangible way to provide a pathway to naturalized citizenship and practical experience for UofL students in a demanding area, immigration law,” Stivers said. “It gets back to growing our state economy with a workforce generator that helps those who are here legally already to provide for their families in a country and state they have longed to be a part of.”
University of Louisville Law School Dean Melanie Jacobs said she heard much community support for the clinic. She went to the legislators to advocate for it.
Jacobs said the clinic will start this fall with three law school students under the supervision of veteran immigration attorney and judge Chris Kozoll. The students will work about eight hours a week, receive law school credit and provide free legal service to migrants primarily dealing with work issues. “I hope we grow to six to eight students a semester,” Jacobs said. “We have a pretty narrow charge on what we can help the migrants with. We will not be handling issues like crimes and divorces.”
Jacobs said she was hopeful that about 60-100 immigrants will be helped each year and that Fuentes and the Catholic Charities of Louisville will help get the word out to migrants about the service.
Of the students accepted for the new clinic this fall, Kozoll said, “They each expressed a desire to work with individuals from other countries.”
The immigrant community in Louisville is quite diverse, said Kozoll. “The state legislature seemed very supportive of helping out, especially with the Cuban community,” he said.
When asked if immigrants from other parts of the state can participate in the clinic, Kozoll said, “I’m not aware of any limitations that would preclude others from other counties from participating, but I think our early focus will be on Jefferson County.”
The Goal
Luis David Fuentes, now 53, left his native Cuba when he was 26. He was living with his parents when he departed. “I loved my homeland, but the government there owns everything,” he said. “It was socialism.”
Leaving Cuba was “like being born again,” he said. “It was very difficult to leave my family and friends in Havana, but I had to leave. I was a mechanical engineer, but the government controlled us. There is only one political party there, the Communist, ruling the country, not giving any room for a different opinion or proposal of change.
“In Cuba, you have to keep a ration book to keep track of all your purchases for the government to review. I wanted out. In Cuba, people connected to the government have goods and privileges. They are less than 1 percent of the population; the rest are struggling and suffering scarcities and needs.”
Fuentes moved to Chile for three years, working as a mechanical engineer to get a visa to go to America. “Cuba was not going to give me permission to go to America,” he said.
A relative living in the U.S. told him that he should come to “a nice, friendly place called Frankfort, Kentucky.”
He did in 2000, accompanied by his wife, Yamilet, who now is a sign interpreter for the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services. They have a daughter, Fernanda, a sophomore at the University of Kentucky, and a son, Luis, 18, heading to UK in the fall.
Fuentes said he never questioned becoming an immigrant, even when he was sweeping floors in Shelbyville.
“I am so blessed,” he said. “The Kentucky legislature has been so kind in helping other immigrants get a better chance in becoming productive, caring citizens. This clinic will help.
“I now have the freedom to speak out, to disagree, to open a business, to vote, to make dreams come true. That is the goal others have, too. We are extremely grateful to the Commonwealth for welcoming and allowing us to rebuild our homes here. God bless Kentucky!”