diff --git a/Shorewall/Perl/Shorewall/Misc.pm b/Shorewall/Perl/Shorewall/Misc.pm
index 97e1cd2db..221957109 100644
--- a/Shorewall/Perl/Shorewall/Misc.pm
+++ b/Shorewall/Perl/Shorewall/Misc.pm
@@ -356,7 +356,7 @@ sub remove_blacklist( $ ) {
 
     my $fn = find_file $file;
 
-    assert( -f $fn );
+    return 1 unless -f $file;
 
     my $oldfile = open_file $fn;
     my $newfile;