Immigration agents detained Volkan Guzey, a longtime captain at Carbone Miami, at Miami International Airport on Sept. 4 as he and his wife were about to leave for their honeymoon, according to reporting by Caper.
His wife, Eliana Cabrera, said two agents approached the couple at their boarding gate and asked Guzey for his passport and entry visa. Before he was escorted away, he urged her to take the flight so she could visit her cousin’s newborn. He called about 10 minutes later to say he had been detained. She said she went two days without hearing from him.
ICE’s online detainee locator listed Guzey as of Oct. 8 in custody at the Denver Contract Detention Facility in Colorado. Cabrera said he was moved from Florida to Texas before going to Colorado. Guzey, who is originally from Turkey, has worked at Carbone Miami since January 2021, when he joined other Major Food Group employees who moved from New York to help open the restaurant.
Cabrera started a GoFundMe campaign, “Help Bring Volkan Home,” to cover legal fees, which she says have topped $15,000, along with rent and a possible bond. She said Guzey was the household’s main earner and that she has only about one more month of rent saved. She may have to leave their Miami apartment and move in with her mother in Utah if she cannot cover expenses.
The fundraiser listed Oct. 5 as the date of his first master calendar and bond hearings. The outcome has not been confirmed. Cabrera told Caper she had heard from coworkers but not from restaurant management, and an MFG representative did not respond to a request for comment.
