diff --git a/packages/js/src/utils/check-dependencies.ts b/packages/js/src/utils/check-dependencies.ts
index 2f71d482f3a4b..6c75352f1ed1e 100644
--- a/packages/js/src/utils/check-dependencies.ts
+++ b/packages/js/src/utils/check-dependencies.ts
@@ -19,8 +19,7 @@ export function checkDependencies(
     context.root,
     context.projectName,
     context.targetName,
-    context.configurationName,
-    true
+    context.configurationName
   );
   const projectRoot = target.data.root;
 
diff --git a/packages/workspace/src/utilities/buildable-libs-utils.ts b/packages/workspace/src/utilities/buildable-libs-utils.ts
index b000104625949..1a3c940b1d984 100644
--- a/packages/workspace/src/utilities/buildable-libs-utils.ts
+++ b/packages/workspace/src/utilities/buildable-libs-utils.ts
@@ -137,7 +137,8 @@ function collectDependencies(
         return;
 
       acc.push({ name: dependency.target, isTopLevel: areTopLevelDeps });
-      if (!shallow) {
+      const isInternalTarget = projGraph.nodes[dependency.target];
+      if (!shallow && isInternalTarget) {
         collectDependencies(dependency.target, projGraph, acc, shallow, false);
       }
     }