President-elect Donald Trump has often asserted that migrants who enter the U.S. illegally sometimes go on to commit other crimes, including arson, which is a huge concern at the moment amid the devastation of several major wildfires in and around Los Angeles, California.

Trump may have just been proven correct as federal immigration officials quietly confirmed that a man arrested last week for attempting to start a fire with a blowtorch is indeed an illegal migrant from Mexico, Breitbart reported.

That individual, who boasts and extensive criminal record, has not been charged with arson, however -- at least, not yet -- and there are concerns that California's and L.A.'s "sanctuary" policies for illegal migrants may obstruct or delay efforts to deport him.

ICE confirms suspected arsonist an illegal migrant

Fox News reporter Bill Melugin revealed on Sunday that unnamed officials with Immigration and Customs Enforcement confirmed to him that a suspected possible arsonist named Juan Manuel Sierra-Leyva is an illegal migrant from Mexico who has been committing numerous crimes in the U.S. for at least the past eight years.

Sierra-Leyva was the subject of a viral video on social media last week in which local residents confronted and detained him until police arrived to arrest him after he was spotted attempting to start fires with a gas-fueled blowtorch near what was dubbed the Kenneth fire.

In a Sunday X post, Melugin wrote, "Per ICE sources, the man seen in a viral video being subdued by residents & arrested by police w/ a blowtorch near the #KennethFire in West Hills is an illegal alien from Mexico named Juan Manuel Sierra-Leyva."

"He is in custody on a probation violation & has NOT been charged w/ arson," the reporter continued. "I'm told ICE will place a detainer request on him with the L.A. County Sheriff's Department, but they do not expect it to be honored due to California's Sanctuary State law."

"I'm told Sierra-Leyva will have a court appearance tomorrow," Melugin added, along with the suspect's lengthy rap sheet of prior convictions. "Again -- he has not been charged w/ arson and is in custody only on a probation violation at the moment, as multiple agencies have been interviewing him."

The New York Post separately reported that it, too, had confirmed through ICE and law enforcement sources that Sierra-Leyva was an illegal migrant from Mexico who may, in fact, be released instead of turned over for deportation despite his long criminal record because of the Democrat-run state and city's sanctuary policies that prohibit local law enforcement from cooperating with federal immigration agencies.

"The lack of communication between local and federal law enforcement agencies in Los Angeles due to sanctuary policies put in place by LA city council and Governor [Gavin] Newsom, have resulted in many arrests that have been unreported to and followed up by ICE," an unnamed law enforcement source told the Post. "Many of which are criminals who have numerous encounters with local law enforcement for serious crimes."

Why hasn't he been charged with arson?

As for why Sierra-Leyva hasn't been charged with arson despite being caught red-handed by civilians attempting to set fires with a blowtorch, Forbes reported that local police explained they were unable to establish "probable cause" to support an arson charge because they couldn't confirm any links between his actions and any of the multiple fires that have erupted in and around L.A. over the past week.

That Forbes report went on to cite experts who estimated that roughly 20% of human-caused wildfires are started purposefully by arsonists, and that around 95% of California's wildfires are human-caused -- sometimes by arson but often by accident or neglect -- but also that some fires are sparked by lightning, blown embers from other older fires, or power lines and other electricity infrastructure.

At least one other individual charged with arson

Yet, while Sierra-Leyva may yet dodge an arson charge, another man of unknown national origin, Jose Gerardo Escobar, has been hit with a felony arson charge by the Los Angeles District Attorney's Office after he was caught in the act of setting a dead tree and other brush on fire in a park in Azusa on Friday.

Escobar, who was being held in custody on $20,000 bail, has been charged with felony arson, arson during a state of emergency, and attempted arson, and faces up to nine years in state prison if convicted.