diff --git a/compiler/rustc_const_eval/src/transform/validate.rs b/compiler/rustc_const_eval/src/transform/validate.rs
index fb37eb79a335f..272fe3d1b3109 100644
--- a/compiler/rustc_const_eval/src/transform/validate.rs
+++ b/compiler/rustc_const_eval/src/transform/validate.rs
@@ -72,6 +72,17 @@ impl<'tcx> MirPass<'tcx> for Validator {
         };
         checker.visit_body(body);
         checker.check_cleanup_control_flow();
+
+        if let MirPhase::Runtime(_) = body.phase {
+            if let ty::InstanceDef::Item(_) = body.source.instance {
+                if body.has_free_regions() {
+                    checker.fail(
+                        Location::START,
+                        format!("Free regions in optimized {} MIR", body.phase.name()),
+                    );
+                }
+            }
+        }
     }
 }
 
diff --git a/compiler/rustc_mir_transform/src/lib.rs b/compiler/rustc_mir_transform/src/lib.rs
index cdd28ae0c0197..5fd923190ef59 100644
--- a/compiler/rustc_mir_transform/src/lib.rs
+++ b/compiler/rustc_mir_transform/src/lib.rs
@@ -416,8 +416,6 @@ fn inner_mir_for_ctfe(tcx: TyCtxt<'_>, def: ty::WithOptConstParam<LocalDefId>) -
 
     pm::run_passes(tcx, &mut body, &[&ctfe_limit::CtfeLimit], None);
 
-    debug_assert!(!body.has_free_regions(), "Free regions in MIR for CTFE");
-
     body
 }
 
@@ -626,8 +624,6 @@ fn inner_optimized_mir(tcx: TyCtxt<'_>, did: LocalDefId) -> Body<'_> {
     debug!("body: {:#?}", body);
     run_optimization_passes(tcx, &mut body);
 
-    debug_assert!(!body.has_free_regions(), "Free regions in optimized MIR");
-
     body
 }
 
@@ -651,7 +647,5 @@ fn promoted_mir(
         run_analysis_to_runtime_passes(tcx, body);
     }
 
-    debug_assert!(!promoted.has_free_regions(), "Free regions in promoted MIR");
-
     tcx.arena.alloc(promoted)
 }