Illegal border crossings by Central American children and families are surging again, approaching the record levels set in the summer of 2014, according to the latest data released for August. And border watchdogs say it's all about Donald Trump and the upcoming election.

If the surge continues into September, fiscal 2016 will end on par with 2014, when President Obama was forced to address what was widely referred to as a "humanitarian crisis."

August figures released this week by U.S. Customs and Border Protection show that more than 37,000 people were apprehended trying to illegally cross the southern border.

That's nearly 6,000 more than in August 2014 and brings the total to 369,411 with one month still to go in the current fiscal year.

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Customs and Border Patrol processed a record 479,000 illegal crossers in 2014, but 2015 saw the number drop to 331,000 as Obama's DHS claimed it had implemented some upgraded enforcement measures having to do with "priorities."

"These priorities more sharply focus our limited enforcement resources on public safety and border security," the DHS claims in a statement on its website.

Now with the huge spike in illegal crossings this summer, the final tally for fiscal 2016 is expected to reach 400,000, exposing Obama's upgraded measures as a fraud, according to border hawks.

A border patrol agent from the El Centro sector in California who asked not to be identified told WND he believes the numbers are up because of the pending presidential election. The fact that Republican Donald Trump continues to close the gap with Democrat Hillary Clinton, actually pulling ahead of her in some polls, is a huge factor driving the surge, he said.

"This is just speculation on my part, but I'm sure we're getting a rush before the election, because if Trump wins they're going to put an end to this [catch-and-release] policy," the agent told WND.

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He said the majority of border agents are hoping for a Trump win. Their union, the National Border Patrol Council, has endorsed Trump.

"I'm not saying he's going to stick exactly to his positions because I don't believe that for any politician. But I do feel he'll make a change for the better," the agent said.

George Soros' involvement in historic migrations

William Gheen, president and founder of Americans for Legal Immigration, or ALIPAC, agrees with the agent's assessment on the main reason for the surge. He says there are "big money interests" fueling the surge, with the likes of billionaire George Soros greasing the skids.

"The greatest wave of illegal immigration in America's history is now inbound. We've been warning our supporters about this since January because Obama has sent the green light around the world that America's border defenses have been compromised by his office," Gheen said. "And word of that has reached every corner of the earth, where it is estimated some 1 billion people could come to the U.S. if we continue to allow them to do so."

Gheen said the illegals are "being told to come" by a network of pro-immigrant advocacy groups funded by Soros and other wealthy progressives.

"They're being told to come by Soros-backed groups and politicians," he said.

And he's not alone in that belief.

Caroline Glick, deputy managing editor for the Jerusalem Post, wrote an op-ed recently that also zeroed in on Soros as the main culprit in funding the surge of migrants not only into the U.S. but also Europe.

"On the surface, the vast number of groups and people he supports seem unrelated. After all, what does climate change have to do with illegal African immigration to Israel? What does Occupy Wall Street have to do with Greek immigration policies? But the fact is that Soros-backed projects share basic common attributes," Glick wrote.

"They all work to weaken the ability of national and local authorities in Western democracies to uphold the laws and values of their nations and communities.

"They all work to hinder free markets, whether those markets are financial, ideological, political or scientific," she continued. "They do so in the name of democracy, human rights, economic, racial and sexual justice and other lofty terms."

In other words, adds Glick, "their goal is to subvert Western democracies and make it impossible for governments to maintain order or for societies to retain their unique identities and values."

Late last year, Soros admitted his involvement in the European migrant crisis when he responded to Hungary Prime Minister Viktor Orban's accusation that he was encouraging the historic migration out of the Middle East into Europe. Soros said "national borders are the obstacle."

Soros funds pro-immigration groups on the one hand while on the other hand financing Democrat-sponsored get-out-the-vote projects, as documented by Discover the Networks.

Just two of these groups are:

America Coming Together : Soros played a major role in creating this group, whose purpose was to coordinate and organize pro-Democrat voter-mobilization programs.

: Soros played a major role in creating this group, whose purpose was to coordinate and organize pro-Democrat voter-mobilization programs. America Votes: Soros played a major role in creating this group, whose get-out-the-vote campaigns targeted likely Democratic Party voters.

See full list of groups funded or created by Soros and his Open Society Institute.

Gheen believes Democrats are illegally registering large numbers of immigrants – legal and illegal – to vote even though they're not eligible because they don't have full U.S. citizenship. He said the safeguards against this type of fraudulent practice are virtually nonexistent in most states.

"They're getting them here to vote. No one is checking to make sure they are citizens when they register these immigrants," Gheen said.

When he brought up this point on Fox News in 2010, Gheen said he was never invited back on the network.

"I was banned from Fox News after that," he told WND.

Although it's a felony for non-citizens to register to vote, no one is checking to make sure migrants aren't being encouraged to lie and check the little box designating themselves as citizens, he said.

"So the Democrats are registering folks who aren't eligible to be registered," he alleges. "There's a little question on the registration form asking, 'Are you a U.S. citizen?' If you check yes, no one checks that. There's no significant verification process in any form or fashion. In areas that are big illegal alien areas, it's been going on for at least six years."

Gheen said his organization filed a formal complaint about illegal voter registration in Clark County, Nevada, after the 2010 election that saw Harry Reed narrowly re-elected. He got no response.

"I've been involved in past races monitoring on the ground, and we know that one of America's biggest secrets is illegals are already voting in large numbers west of the Mississippi," he said. "Democratic machine votes could be enough to tilt this election."

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Border agent ranks demoralized, depleted

The El Centro border agent told WND another reason for the surge at the border is that his sector and others have been losing agents through attrition faster than the government can replace them. He blames poor morale for the loss of agents.

"I can't say for Texas, but over here in El Centro sector, in my sector, we've lost quite a few agents, partly because our union negotiated a bad deal for pay. Our pay has actually gone down. I'm gonna chalk it up to poor management coupled with lower pay, and the politics of it all, the catch and release, is gonna create a bad moral situation," he told WND. "A lot of agents have gone to Customs or a completely different agency like DEA or ATF, or some of them have just completely gotten out of the federal government."

He said some border stations like Calexico, California, are down by 100 agents or more.

"Calexico used to be well over 400 agents, and now they're down to the low 300s," he said.

"This has been going on as long as I've been here," he added. "They say, 'Oh we've got 19,000 border agents,' but how many are in non-enforcement positions?

"Back-filling those lost through attrition is not keeping up. We're not hiring enough to replace those who are leaving."