diff --git a/staging/src/k8s.io/apiserver/pkg/server/deleted_kinds.go b/staging/src/k8s.io/apiserver/pkg/server/deleted_kinds.go
index ab10774cbe0..420900d693f 100644
--- a/staging/src/k8s.io/apiserver/pkg/server/deleted_kinds.go
+++ b/staging/src/k8s.io/apiserver/pkg/server/deleted_kinds.go
@@ -54,7 +54,10 @@ type ResourceExpirationEvaluator interface {
 }
 
 func NewResourceExpirationEvaluator(currentVersion apimachineryversion.Info) (ResourceExpirationEvaluator, error) {
-	ret := &resourceExpirationEvaluator{}
+	ret := &resourceExpirationEvaluator{
+		// TODO https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/issues/111972 set this back to false after beta is tagged.
+		strictRemovedHandlingInAlpha: true,
+	}
 	if len(currentVersion.Major) > 0 {
 		currentMajor64, err := strconv.ParseInt(currentVersion.Major, 10, 32)
 		if err != nil {