I’d much rather not “risk” them at all as they are not my lives to risk.
They should be deployed at the border and able to eliminate any threat that comes NEAR the border.
Using jets to destroy cartel strongholds would force cartels to stop the human trade.
No one there is going to down one of our jets.
Drones with hellfires have been shown in Pakistan and Afghanistan as very effective destroyers of compounds containing bad guys
Bad guys includes girlfriends and associated kids in the compound.
Wonder how much circa 80s Soviet hardware is down there?