The 16-year-old Del Valle High School sophomore was taken into custody by fire marshals and charged with destruction of flag after he allegedly tried to ignite the school's flag, KFOX-TV, El Paso, reported Thursday.

"The new penal code states it is against the law of destruction of the American flag, it is against the law," said Lt. Mario Hernandez with the El Paso Fire Department.

However, Jim Harrington with the Texas Civil Rights Project said the law the student was arrested under may be on shaky ground.

"I doubt if that statute is constitutional. After the Texas flag burning case, the Congress of the United States passed a similar law, and the Supreme Court ruled that that was unconstitutional," he said.

Harrington said the teen could still run into trouble, though, after he allegedly told authorities he attempted to burn the flag because he was bored.

"The rule for burning the flag of course is that it's permitted for political speech, but in this context in this student we have to see how things happened," he said.