diff --git a/hack/make.ps1 b/hack/make.ps1
index ea573a4a65..82a38f3cfc 100644
--- a/hack/make.ps1
+++ b/hack/make.ps1
@@ -263,6 +263,7 @@ Function Validate-PkgImports($headCommit, $upstreamCommit) {
         # Filter out what we are looking for
         $imports = @() + $imports -NotMatch "^github.com/docker/docker/pkg/" `
                                   -NotMatch "^github.com/docker/docker/vendor" `
+                                  -NotMatch "^github.com/docker/docker/internal" `
                                   -Match "^github.com/docker/docker" `
                                   -Replace "`n", ""
         $imports | ForEach-Object{ $badFiles+="$file imports $_`n" }
diff --git a/hack/validate/pkg-imports b/hack/validate/pkg-imports
index 1045bd8615..2f50f2de7c 100755
--- a/hack/validate/pkg-imports
+++ b/hack/validate/pkg-imports
@@ -11,7 +11,12 @@ unset IFS
 badFiles=()
 for f in "${files[@]}"; do
 	IFS=$'\n'
-	badImports=($(go list -e -f '{{ join .Deps "\n" }}' "$f" | sort -u | grep -vE '^github.com/docker/docker/pkg/' | grep -vE '^github.com/docker/docker/vendor' | grep -E '^github.com/docker/docker' || true))
+	badImports=($(go list -e -f '{{ join .Deps "\n" }}' "$f" | sort -u \
+		| grep -vE '^github.com/docker/docker/pkg/' \
+		| grep -vE '^github.com/docker/docker/vendor' \
+		| grep -vE '^github.com/docker/docker/internal' \
+		| grep -E '^github.com/docker/docker' \
+		|| true))
 	unset IFS
 
 	for import in "${badImports[@]}"; do