History Main / RunForTheBorder

* For forty years, thousands of people attempted to flee East Germany for the West. Their methods ranged from the simple to the simply ingenious: fake passports, hiding in the trunks of cars, digging tunnels, stealing aircraft, building a hot-air balloon from scratch. In 1989, Hungary eliminated its border restrictions with Austria, allowing East German vacationers to cross over to the West.

* The basic premise of ''VideoGame/Road96''. As you play as an assortment of teen runaways trying to cross the border before Election Day.

* ''Fanfic/HarryTano'': After believing that Ahsoka Tano, who took Harry away from the Dursleys [[HappilyAdopted and raised him as her son]], was actually a demon that Harry had summoned; the Ministry of Magic tried to have Ahsoka arrested and dissected. This prompted them and their allies to leave Great Britain and Europe behind along with moving all of their [[ETGaveUsWifi Wolftech]] Facilities to America since it was well outside of the Ministries jurisdiction.

A character, on the run from the law, has only one chance left at evasion: escape the jurisdiction entirely. Their crime might be addressed as a FugitiveArc, a GreatEscape, or escaping DayOfTheJackboot. A spy's cover might have been blown. Regardless of their crime (or lack of), they've resolved to escape the jurisdiction because of the pursuit.

* The majority of ''Film/SweetSweetbacksBaadasssssSong'' consists of this.

* In the Netherlands in 1983, beer magnate Freddy Heineken and his driver were kidnapped by a gang led by the criminal Willem Holleeder. While the police eventually apprehended most of the kidnappers, Holleeder and his companion Cor van Hout fled to France, which did not have a settled extradition treaty with the Netherlands at the time. The French government considered the two criminals to be persona non grata and put them under house arrest, then transferred them to different overseas territories before finallly agreeing on their extradition terms in 1986.

** During the UsefulNotes/SpanishCivilWar in 1939, many Republicans tried to flee the country to avoid being hunted down and brutally tortured, imprisoned, or killed by the new Nationalist government. Some fled to former Spanish colonies like Mexico, but many bolted for France, even dumping their weapons at the French border, only for France to fall itself. Many were sent back to concentration camps in Spain, although a few escaped and joined the French Resistance.

* During the era of slavery in the United States, escaped slaves would often flee for a state which didn't recognize slavery. However, the enactment of the Fugitive Slave Law allowed slave catchers to arrest escaped slaves in free states and transport them back to the South, and the ''Dred Scott'' decision declared that slaves weren't automatically freed just by going to a free state (even if said free state's laws said otherwise). This forced many slaves to keep running all the way to UsefulNotes/{{Canada}}. This being said, the Underground Railroad and the efforts of many abolitionists obstructed the efforts of many slave catchers in the North.

** Second, if two countries have a snag somewhere -- ''e.g.'' the offense is punishable by death in one country and not the other -- the country with a stricter rule can promise the other country that they'll use the less strict rule. Mexico's constitution itself forbids the deportation of anyone facing the death penalty in their home country, which is reflected in its extradition treaties[[note]]It was designed to help people fleeing military dictatorships in Central America, but it applies equally to American {{serial killer}}s. This has led to issues where Mexico doesn't ''want'' to keep the culprit (most famously [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhenli_Ye_Gon Zhenli Ye Gon]], who could not be sent to China because he would be executed there, and was eventually dumped on the U.S., who also wanted him and promised not to execute him).[[/note]], but Mexico may still extradite a wanted criminal if the other country promises not to execute them.

* During UsefulNotes/TheFrenchRevolution, many Royalists fled France fearing reprisals from the revolutionary government. And during the Hundred Days in France, when the Bourbon monarchy returned to power, many of Napoleon's most prominent supporters, faced with the choice between exile and death (by firing squad or royalist mob), chose exile themselves. The few who stayed were forced into exile anyway fifteen years later during the July Revolution.
* During the era of slavery in the United States, escaped slaves would often flee for a state which didn't recognize slavery. However, the enactment of the Fugitive Slave Law allowed slave catchers to arrest escaped slaves in free states and transport them back to the South, and the ''Dred Scott'' decision declared that slaves weren't automatically freed just by going to a free state (even if said free state's laws said otherwise). This forced many slaves to keep running all the way to Canada. This being said, the Underground Railroad and the efforts of many abolitionists obstructed the efforts of many slave catchers in the North.

*** Late in the war, 25 Germans broke out of a camp in Arizona, outside of Phoenix. Most tried to hike to Mexico, but only two got farther than a few miles before being caught. Three built a boat, intending to row down the Gila River, only to discover that said river is usually a dry riverbed (which they didn't notice until they were ''standing'' in it) and the only time it ''might'' be navigable would be during a flash flood.

* Immediately after the Partition of British India, thousands of [[UsefulNotes/{{Hinduism}} Hindus]] and [[UsefulNotes/{{Sikhism}} Sikhs]] fled from the newly created Pakistan to India, while thousands of [[UsefulNotes/{{Islam}} Muslims]] fled to Pakistan. Many of them were killed on the way by militants from the other groups.
* During the [[RedChina Cultural Revolution]], many Chinese fled to wherever they could, even other Communist countries that weren't so bad, including Vietnam (mired in [[UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar a frigging civil war]]) and North Korea (which is, well, North Korea). Hong Kong was a great option, but it was closely guarded. Some tried to swim all the way across the Fujian Strait to Taiwan. It was that bad.
* During UsefulNotes/TheTroubles, this was a favoured strategy for the various militant groups, as the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland is long, tortuous, and impossible to seal. IRA members could launch an attack in Northern Ireland, flee back across the border, wait out the heat in a safehouse, and take advantage of Ireland's non-extradition policy. British forces who tried to follow them across the border risked provoking diplomatic protests from the Republic.[[note]]Republican sympathisers would often remove border markings, or even relocate them well inside Republic territory, to provoke "accidental" border intrusions.[[/note]] Irish soldiers patrolled the border on their side for the dual purpose of arresting rebels and preventing British forces from crossing. In spite of this, there are (unconfirmed, and officially denied) reports of British Special Forces crossing the border anyway and apprehending IRA operatives. The Irish border has such a sordid history that a key snag in the Brexit negotiations decades later was how to make a customs border without looking like the one that existed during the Troubles.
* During UsefulNotes/TheGulfWar, this happened to a small British SAS patrol known as "Bravo Two Zero", who got {{trapped behind enemy lines}} in Iraq and had to make a run for the Syrian border. Of the eight-man patrol, one was killed in action, two tied of exposure, four were separated from the group and were capture, and the last, Creator/ChrisRyan, successfully fled 180 miles on foot to Syria, in the process setting the record for the longest known successful escape and evasion.
* North Koreans trying to escape their notoriously oppressive country will occasionally make a break for South Korea, but that particular border -- with its wide demilitarized zone and its very heavy security -- is very difficult to break through, although a few have succeeded. Instead, many will make a break for China, but they can't stay there because the Chinese will send them back to North Korea if they're caught (with ''very'' serious consequences for them), so they have to continue to a third country, usually Thailand (via Laos), Vietnam, or Mongolia. All of these countries will arrest these defectors as illegal migrants, but will deport them back to ''South'' Korea, which extends citizenship to North Koreans as well. Defectors' ability to do this varies depending on those countries' relations with China and North Korea.

* Following the Communist takeover of UsefulNotes/{{Laos}}, much of the Hmong population were persecuted as traitors and "lackeys" of the Americans as a result of Hmong involvement in the civil war that preceded it, with the Laotian government and its Vietnamese allies carrying out human rights abuses against Hmong civilians. As a result, many Hmong civilians in Laos fled to Thailand. Others built boats and ''sailed'' to other countries that weren't so bad, such as the United States (with Minneapolis-St. Paul and Wisconsin gaining substantial Hmong populations), Australia and France.

* After Def Jam Recordings co-founder Russell Simmons got caught up in the Weinstein effect and was accused by several women of sexual assault, he moved to Indonesia, which has no extradition treaty with the US.

* ''Series/{{Nichols}}'': In "The Siege", Nichols pulls an ISurrenderSuckers to allow revolutionary Colonel Alcazar to slip through the US lines and escape back to Mexico.

* The second act of ''Film/ThirteenAssassins'' centers around this. The powerful and psychotic Lord Naritsugu cannot be touched in the capital because he's the Shogun's brother and he would take offense to any attempt to kill his brother in his own city. He cannot be touched in his own lands because he can afford enough troops to make any attack suicide. But when traveling between those two places, he only has a large but theoretically beatable honor guard. So Hambei tries to get his lord back home before the assassins can strike, while the assassins try to force Hambei to take a route that forces Naritsugu to pass through a prepared kill zone.

* The second act of ''Film/13Assassins'' centers around this. The powerful and psychotic Lord Naritsugu cannot be touched in the capital because he's the Shogun's brother and he would take offense to any attempt to kill his brother in his own city. He cannot be touched in his own lands because he can afford enough troops to make any attack suicide. But when traveling between those two places, he only has a large but theoretically beatable honor guard. So Hambei tries to get his lord back home before the assassins can strike, while the assassins try to force Hambei to take a route that forces Naritsugu to pass through a prepared kill zone.

This can be TruthInTelevision, but it's complicated. Most industrialized nations have extradition treaties with one another stipulating that authorities will turn over fugitives if apprehended in the country the individual has fled to. On the other hand it gets fuzzy with less-developed countries or between countries with sour relationships. So while not common it does happen.

* Christopher Cross's 1980 hit "Ride Like the Wind," as the lyrics imply he escaped a death sentence after having "gunned down ten", and still has a long way to go to get to Mexico.
** And according to ''The Onion'' Cross [[http://www.theonion.com/article/christopher-cross-finally-reaches-mexican-border-4031 finally reached the border in 1999.]]

* ''Theatre/TheSoundOfMusic'', after Austria has been taken over by UsefulNotes/NaziGermany. [[ArtisticLicenseGeography From Salzburg]].

This can be TruthInTelevision but it's complicated. Most industrialized nations have extradition treaties with one another stipulating that authorities will turn over fugitives if apprehended in the country the individual has fled to. On the other hand it gets fuzzy with less-developed countries or between countries with sour relationships. So while not common it does happen.

* ''ComicBook/UltimateSpiderMan'': When the Bugle released the content of the tapes that proved Fisk's murder of Mr. Big, he left the country. In the epilogue we saw him in a tropical location.

* ''Series/{{Elementary}}'': In the episode "Crowned Clown, Downtown Brown" the criminal of the week successfully escapes to Montenegro. The authorities however merely contact the government and (truthfully) inform them that he's carrying "a virulent superbug", leading to him being sent back.
-->"We might have left out the part about it not being lethal or contagious."

* In ''VideoGame/PapersPlease'', you play a border inspector in the FictionalCountry of Arstotzka, and you may encounter a number of desperate refugees (including a few asylum seekers later on) coming through your check point. The Inspector will have to turn them away if their paperwork isn't in order, or face increasingly severe pay deductions. You eventually get the ability to detain suspicious characters. [[spoiler: One ending even has you and however many family members you can afford flee to Obristan with forged passports.]]