Unusual trio pushes for action on immigration

(CNN) - An unlikely trio is pushing for an end to the deadlock in Washington over immigration reform.

Sheldon Adelson, a casino mogul and major Republican donor, teamed up with tech billionaire Bill Gates and investor icon Warren Buffett, both supporters of President Barak Obama, to urge Congress and the White House to find common ground on immigration reform.

[twitter-follow screen_name='politicalticker'][twitter-follow screen_name='danadavidsenCNN']

"Americans deserve better than this," they wrote in an op-ed in the New York Times published Thursday.

“The three of us vary in our politics and would differ also in our preferences about the details of an immigration reform bill. But we could without doubt come together to draft a bill acceptable to each of us," they wrote.

"We hope that fact holds a lesson: You don’t have to agree on everything in order to cooperate on matters about which you are reasonably close to agreement. It’s time that this brand of thinking finds its way to Washington."

Obama and Republicans have come to a stalemate on immigration reform legislation just as a surge of Central American immigrant minors illegally crossing the southern border has sparked national controversy.

Obama asked Congress for $3.7 billion for a border solution but Republicans immediately raised concerns, especially over the cost of the measure. And the fact that midterm elections are less than four months away doesn’t ease prospects for passage.

The op-ed concludes: “It’s time for 535 of America’s citizens to remember what they owe to the 318 million who employ them.”