Community Safety

Carl Takei is the Community Safety Program Director at the Asian Law Caucus. Previously, he was a senior staff attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), where he co-led the national organization’s shift toward divesting from police and reinvesting in communities, and fought abuses at the intersections of criminal legal and immigration enforcement systems. He led the ACLU’s successful advocacy work to terminate the U.S. Department of Justice’s “Criminal Alien Requirement” contracts with private prisons, culminating in that agency’s 2016 decision to phase out all of the Federal Bureau of Prisons’ private prison contracts.

Carl is also a longtime co-chair of Tsuru for Solidarity, working with other Japanese American advocates and allies to end detention sites and support directly impacted communities. Carl is a graduate of Boston College Law School, and began his legal career as a law clerk for U.S. District Judge Paul Barbadoro in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Hampshire.

Devon Matsumoto (he/him) is the Senior Program Coordinator in the Community Safety Program at Asian Law Caucus. Previously he worked at Fresh Lifelines for Youth as the Leadership and Middle School Program Coordinator working to dismantle the school-to-prison pipeline. Devon draws from his own family's history of displacement, incarceration, and advocacy to guide his work.

Devon has also been an organizer in San Jose Nikkei Resisters, which works to educate, mobilize, and unite the San Jose Japanese American community around social justice issues. Devon is a graduate of Seattle University’s School of Social Work.

Megan Vees is a Litigation Staff Attorney at the Asian Law Caucus. Her work focuses on advocating for the rights of immigrant communities and communities of color subjected to injustices in the criminal legal system. Prior to joining ALC, Megan worked as a staff attorney on Public Counsel’s Consumer Rights & Economic Justice Project, where she had a special focus on bail and other forms of criminal debt. Megan began her legal career clerking for U.S. District Court Judge Jesus Bernal in the Central District of California, followed by a fellowship at The Bail Project. While in law school, she participated in the Criminal Justice Policy Program’s bail reform project and the International Human Rights Clinic. Prior to law school, Megan worked at the Esperanza Immigrant Rights Project, where she informed detained children of their rights in deportation proceedings. She also served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Peru and worked for a refugee rights organization in Cameroon. Megan holds a JD from Harvard Law School and a B.A. from Wesleyan University.

Nicole (she/her) is a Community Advocate in the Asian Law Caucus' Community Safety Program. Previously, she conducted research on the politics of defunding police and has worked as a community organizer advocating for education justice in Massachusetts.

Nicole was born and raised in greater Boston. She earned a BS from Tufts University in Biopsychology and minored in Sociology.

In her free time, she enjoys reviewing books, hiking, and going to concerts.

Tatiana is a Community Advocate in the Asian Law Caucus' Community Safety Program. Prior to ALC, Tatiana worked as a client advocate at a non-profit law firm solely representing and advocating for the needs of survivors of human trafficking.

Tatiana is a fluent Spanish speaker, she was born and raised in the Bay Area. She earned a BA in Sociology and a BA in Latin American and Latinx Studies from UC Santa Cruz.