diff --git a/mlir/python/mlir/_mlir_libs/__init__.py b/mlir/python/mlir/_mlir_libs/__init__.py
--- a/mlir/python/mlir/_mlir_libs/__init__.py
+++ b/mlir/python/mlir/_mlir_libs/__init__.py
@@ -60,7 +60,7 @@
   def process_initializer_module(module_name):
     try:
       m = importlib.import_module(f".{module_name}", __name__)
-    except ModuleNotFoundError:
+    except (ModuleNotFoundError, ImportError) as e:
       return False
 
     logging.debug("Initializing MLIR with module: %s", module_name)