U.S. President Donald Trump has placed new restrictions on Palestinian visa applicants as of Aug. 18.

It will be almost impossible for Palestinian Authority passport holders to enter the U.S. for pleasure, educational, medicinal or business purposes, according to the Associated Press. It could also become difficult for non-passport holding Palestinians to obtain a U.S. visa, the outlet reported.

Sophomore Mohammad Abukhdeir, who has family in Palestine, expressed concern for the safety of his relatives. He explained that the changes to immigration laws makes his family feel too unsafe to visit.

“Palestinians are not a threat to U.S. security at all,” the bioengineering major said. “There are so many incredibly talented scholars from Gaza and from the West Bank that come to the U.S. in search of opportunities and who benefit us here.”

He added that the University of Maryland has been “cowardly” when it comes to protecting Palestinian community members.

This university wrote in a statement to The Diamondback on Wednesday that it will continue to monitor the situation and any possible impacts it may have on the campus community.

[UMD graduate workers call for more transparency after summer payroll delays]

Zyad Khan, a member of this university’s Students for Justice in Palestine chapter, said the Trump administration’s new rule on the endangered children in Gaza is upsetting.

Just two days before the restriction, the State Department halted visas for the wounded from Gaza to receive medical care in the U.S., according to the Associated Press.

The senior computer science major explained that Palestine now has the largest number of child amputees in the world and denying them access to proper care is morally incorrect. According to the Associated Press, the United Nations deemed Gaza as the “largest cohort of child amputees in modern history.”

Nadine Sahyoun, a nutrition and food science professor specializing in health and nutrition in the Middle East, told The Diamondback she was “totally outraged” by the situation.

“Palestinian students add to the diversity, creativity, viewpoints and culture of a university community,” she said. “[This] is a loss for the university, as well as for the students whose education and future will be curtailed.”

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This new rule was also created after the U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio revoked the Palestinian president’s visa ahead of a United Nations conference in New York.

Since the mass displacement of Palestinians during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, Palestine has been fighting for statehood, Sahyoun said.

About 700,000 Palestinians fled or were permanently expelled from their homes in 1948 during the Nakba — “catastrophe” in Arabic — because of the war after Israel’s establishment, according to the Associated Press.

“There are many Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank that have relatives that are here,” Sahyoun said. “There are some families with their children here, and not being able to come visit is quite devastating.”

Staff writer Tyler Quattrin contributed reporting to this story.