diff --git a/src/com/google/javascript/jscomp/DefaultPassConfig.java b/src/com/google/javascript/jscomp/DefaultPassConfig.java
index 26216efbf9e..e1c5fe963cd 100644
--- a/src/com/google/javascript/jscomp/DefaultPassConfig.java
+++ b/src/com/google/javascript/jscomp/DefaultPassConfig.java
@@ -482,9 +482,6 @@ protected PassListBuilder getChecks() {
       checks.maybeAdd(removeSyntheticScript);
     } else if (!options.checksOnly) {
       checks.maybeAdd(mergeSyntheticScript);
-      if (options.j2clPassMode.shouldAddJ2clPasses()) {
-        checks.maybeAdd(j2clPass);
-      }
       // At this point all checks have been done.
       if (options.exportTestFunctions) {
         checks.maybeAdd(exportTestFunctions);
@@ -559,6 +556,10 @@ protected PassListBuilder getOptimizations() {
     // This is expected to do nothing when in a monolithic build
     passes.maybeAdd(removeUnnecessarySyntheticExterns);
 
+    if (options.j2clPassMode.shouldAddJ2clPasses()) {
+      passes.maybeAdd(j2clPass);
+    }
+
     TranspilationPasses.addTranspilationRuntimeLibraries(passes);
 
     if (options.rewritePolyfills || options.getIsolatePolyfills()) {
@@ -1286,11 +1287,6 @@ private void assertValidOrderForChecks(PassListBuilder checks) {
         gatherModuleMetadataPass,
         checkMissingRequires,
         "Need to gather module information before checking for missing requires.");
-
-    checks.assertPassOrder(
-        j2clPass,
-        TranspilationPasses.rewriteGenerators,
-        "J2CL normalization should be done before generator re-writing.");
   }
 
   /**
@@ -1301,6 +1297,11 @@ private void assertValidOrderForChecks(PassListBuilder checks) {
    * @param optimizations The list of optimization passes
    */
   private void assertValidOrderForOptimizations(PassListBuilder optimizations) {
+    optimizations.assertPassOrder(
+        j2clPass,
+        TranspilationPasses.rewriteGenerators,
+        "J2CL normalization should be done before generator re-writing.");
+
     optimizations.assertPassOrder(
         TranspilationPasses.rewritePolyfills,
         processDefinesOptimize,