diff --git a/buildspecs/release-to-github.yml b/buildspecs/release-to-github.yml
index 332bc1298fbe..36cbaaebe466 100644
--- a/buildspecs/release-to-github.yml
+++ b/buildspecs/release-to-github.yml
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ phases:
     - git remote add --fetch public $PUBLIC_REPOSITORY_URL
     - |
       if [ `git ls-remote --tags public  | grep refs/tags/$RELEASE_VERSION | wc -l` -ge "1" ]; then
-        git push -d public :refs/tags/$RELEASE_VERSION
+        git push public :refs/tags/$RELEASE_VERSION
       fi
     - git tag -a $RELEASE_VERSION -m "AWS SDK for Java v2 ($RELEASE_VERSION)"
     -