History Main / RunForTheBorder

* In a Run For The State Line variation, the ex-military father of ''Film/{{Tank}}'' uses his UsefulNotes/WorldWarII [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Sherman tank]] to free his son from the corrupt Georgia sheriff who'd framed him for drug dealing, then drives it to the Tennessee border where the governor has promised they'll all get a fair trial.

* In Marvel's ''Comicbook/CivilWar'', [[ComicBook/FantasticFour Ben Grimm]] took off for France when the government passed a SuperRegistrationAct, forcing him to take up sides against friends and colleagues. He [[TakeAThirdOption took a third option]].

* Americans flee to Mexico in the MadeForTVMovie ''Super Volcano'', where Yellowstone Park erupts, covers much of the US in ash, and plunges the world into a nuclear winter. They are forced to close the border here too.

** First, the lack of an extradition treaty between two countries doesn't mean you can never be extradited. A treaty just codifies and standardizes the complicated process. Without a treaty, two countries who agree on the process can still allow extradition on a case-by-case basis. Obviously, the more hostile the relations between the two countries, the less likely extradition would realistically be. But then, a criminal fleeing the U.S. probably doesn't want to settle in Iran or North Korea, nor are such countries particularly friendly to their own criminals, let alone foreign ones.

** First, the lack of an extradition treaty between two countries doesn't mean you can never be extradited. A treaty just codifies and standardizes the complicated process. Without a treaty, two countries who agree on the process can still allow extradition on a case-by-case basis.

* The ''Franchise/StarWarsLegends'' comics [[ComicBook/StarWarsTales "The Duty"]], "[[ComicBook/CloneWarsAdventures Salvaged]]," and [[ComicBook/DarkTimes "Parallels"]], along with the final Literature/RepublicCommando novel, feature Jedi fleeing toward the Outer Rim (where the Empire has no presence) in the months after Order 66. All of the groups contain Younglings. Sympathetic scavengers and freight haulers smuggle all of the groups (save the one in "Parallels") past Imperial patrols. The three latter groups make it, but the group in "The Duty" is wiped out by Vader.

* In ''Literature/BootCamp'', three teens escape from an abusive boot camp in Maine and travel towards Canada, where they'll be safe. [[spoiler:Sarah and Pauly make it. Garrett is captured and returned to the camp.]]

See also another method of evading the law, DiplomaticImpunity. In the case of fugitive Nazis, see ArgentinaIsNaziland. Has nothing to do with going to Taco Bell.

* A strange example from ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' episode "The Bob Next Door": Sideshow Bob tries to kill Bart at Five Corners, a point where five states meet, intent on carrying out the murder in pieces across the different state lines so that he hasn't committed a murder in any specific jurisdiction and cannot be tried for it.[[note]]In the United States, murders committed across state borders fall under federal jurisdiction, so this wouldn't work.[[/note]] When the cops show up, Bob tries to use the border to escape from Chief Wiggum, only to find police officers from the other four states have him surrounded.
** In the episode "My Big Fat Geek Wedding", Groundskeeper Willie flees for the border in the mistaken belief he ran over a student at Springfield Elementary with his tractor.

* Amusingly inverted in ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'''s "Last of the Meheecans" episode. Butters inspires a resurgence of nostalgia, homesickness, and nationalism that causes Mexican emigrants to the United States to cross the border ''back'' into Mexico. Border patrol guards eventually have to guard the border on the U.S. side instead to prevent the loss of menial labourers to the American economy.
** In "Cartman's Silly Hate Crime", Cartman is tried as an adult for committing a hate crime against Token by throwing a rock at his head (it had nothing to do with Token being black, they were arguing because Token kept calling him fat, this was before Cartman had become openly racist and was mostly portrayed as a FatIdiot). He's sentenced to imprisonment in juvenile hall until he's 21, but makes a break for it, and makes Kenny drive him to Mexico in his Go-Go Action Bronco, a small battery-powered car. Despite how comically slow the Bronco is, it's treated like a high-speed police chase, and they even manage to smash through a ''police blockade'', before the Bronco runs out of juice a few feet from the border.

** In "Scimitar", Harm and Meg along with the freed marine sergeant struggle to get out of Iraq (in 1996) and into Kuwait in an armored limo, chased by an Iraqi gunship helicopter, and assisted by a [[GunshipRescue US Army attack helicopter]]. Yeah, [[WhatDoYouMeanItWasntMadeOnDrugs it's that kind of show.]]

-->'''Groundskeeper Willie''': Oh my God, I've shredded a child! '''''[[NoodleIncident AGAIN!]] Venezuela, here I come!

* The Franchise/StarWarsLegends comics [[ComicBook/StarWarsTales "The Duty"]], "[[ComicBook/CloneWarsAdventures Salvaged]]," and [[ComicBook/DarkTimes "Parallels"]], along with the final Literature/RepublicCommando novel, feature Jedi fleeing toward the Outer Rim (where the Empire has no presence) in the months after Order 66. All of the groups contain Younglings. Sympathetic scavengers and freight haulers smuggle all of the groups (save the one in "Parallels") past Imperial patrols. The three latter groups make it, but the group in "The Duty" is wiped out by Vader.

* In ''Film/SweetHostage'', escaped mental patient Leonard kidnaps Doris Mae to his mountain cabin. After StockholmSyndrome sets in, she tells him that they should travel through the mountains on foot to Mexico so he can escape punishment and avoid being sent back to the asylum. [[spoiler:The police arrive before they can leave.]]
* ''Film/WereNoAngels'': In the remake, the escaped convicts break out of a New York prison and are trying to cross into Canada as cops patrol the border. Unusually for the trope, the main characters ''reach'' the border very early on, but it's heavily guarded and something keeps stopping them whenever they think they've found a way to safely cross it.[[/folder]]

* ''Literature/{{Dortmunder}}:'' In Don't Ask, Dortunder is captured robbing the diplomatic residence of Votskojek (a fictional Balkan state). He is seemingly flown to Vostkojek to be interrogated. Several chapters later, he escapes, and tries to flee to Votskojek's hated neighbor, Tsergvoia, which he has been told is only a few miles away. Dortmunder waves down a farmer on the first road he finds and cautiously asks if he's in Tsergovia or Votskojek. The farmer's reply (in English) reveals that Dortmunder's captors never took him out of the U.S., and have been playing him for a fool.

* Subverted in Warren Zevon's "Lawyers, Guns and Money" - he makes it to Honduras, but the trouble has followed him. "Send lawyers, guns, and money/The shit has hit the fan."

* ''LightNovel/ACertainMagicalIndex'': Hamazura is forced to flee Academy City when he learns that he has topped [[BigBad Aleister]]'s hit list. He certainly escapes in style: stealing a supersonic plane and auto-piloting it to Russia. Then WorldWarThree happens and AC forces continue pursuing him, so he has to make a run for the Elizalina Alliance border... but that doesn't stop the AC forces either, since it's a ''World War'' and he's only twenty meters inside the border anyway. He kicks himself mentally for thinking that such things as national borders would deter Academy City.

* 'Fanfic/TheEndOfTheWorld'': The oceans of District 4 contain a minefield to keep people from sailing away, but citizens still make it through and flee toward South America semi-regularly.

* 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 that covered kidnapping and extortion. The French government considered the two criminals to be PersonaNonGrata and put them under house arrest, then transferred them to different overseas territories before finallly agreeing on their extradition terms in 1986.

* 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 that covered kidnapping and extortion. 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.

* For forty years, thousands of people attempted to flee East Germany for the West. Between them and freedom was the Inner-German Border Zone, the Berlin Wall, and the East German Border Troops, who were ordered to shoot on sight anyone attempting to flee. 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. A few months later, the Berlin Wall was opened.

* ''Film/TheWayBack:'' Several escapees from TheGulag flee, hoping to escape from Russia and seek refuge in Mongolia. When they finally reach the border, they discover that Mongolia and Russia are now allies. Since the country on the other side of Mongolia also has communist ties, they are forced to cross ''three' borders before the survivors of the group are safe.