diff --git a/contrib/dataimporthandler/src/main/java/org/apache/solr/handler/dataimport/DocBuilder.java b/contrib/dataimporthandler/src/main/java/org/apache/solr/handler/dataimport/DocBuilder.java
index 8538240e70a..64046dc7a89 100644
--- a/contrib/dataimporthandler/src/main/java/org/apache/solr/handler/dataimport/DocBuilder.java
+++ b/contrib/dataimporthandler/src/main/java/org/apache/solr/handler/dataimport/DocBuilder.java
@@ -700,7 +700,7 @@ public class DocBuilder {
       if (delQuery == null && !completeCleanDone.get()) {
         writer.doDeleteAll();
         completeCleanDone.set(true);
-      } else {
+      } else if (delQuery != null) {
         writer.deleteByQuery(delQuery);
       }
     }