Immigrant rights advocates from across the state will hold a prayer vigil from 6 to 8 p.m. Tuesday in the Park Pavilion at Laurel’s Cameron Center to commemorate the first anniversary of the raid on Howard Industries.

Nearly 600 workers at Howard Industries’ transformer plant were detained on Aug. 25 when dozens of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents raided the facility.

According to an e-mail from Juan Carlos Cook, communications coordinator of the Mississippi Immigrants Rights Alliance (MIRA) in Jackson, “most of them had worked at Howard Industries for a long time. They had already settled into our community, established families, attended churches and contributed to the economy of our city, our county, our state and our country.”

Cook noted that 595 workers were jailed and immediately put into deportation proceedings. Also, more than 2,000 family members were separated from one another, including scores of children who were left alone.

With aid from MIRA and faith-based organizations, the workers have struggled to recover. Many of them are still residing in the area and are engaged in an on-going effort to defend their rights as migrant workers in the United States.

The e-mail states that “the vigil will recognize the contributions that the immigrant community has made to Laurel and our state. It will raise awareness of the devastation that this unjust act has caused — the profound effect on our community and its families, the economy and the infrastructure.”

Participants in the “Prayer Vigil for Justice” will pray for an immediate end to “these egregious violations of human rights, the racial profiling that targets people of color and for a fair and just reform of our nation’s labor and immigration laws.”

Refreshments will follow.

Attempts to reach Cook and representatives of the Mississippi Immigrant Rights Alliance by phone and email were unsuccessful.

For additional information, call 601-968-5182.