diff --git a/packages/codemods/react/19/replace-string-ref/__testfixtures__/class-component-custom-import-names.output.tsx b/packages/codemods/react/19/replace-string-ref/__testfixtures__/class-component-custom-import-names.output.tsx
index 5ebe0a0e1..47399f528 100644
--- a/packages/codemods/react/19/replace-string-ref/__testfixtures__/class-component-custom-import-names.output.tsx
+++ b/packages/codemods/react/19/replace-string-ref/__testfixtures__/class-component-custom-import-names.output.tsx
@@ -5,7 +5,11 @@ class C extends React1.Component {
     return (
       <div
         ref={(ref) => {
-          this.refs.refName = ref;
+          if(ref === null) {
+            delete this.refs.refName;
+          } else {
+            this.refs.refName = ref;
+          }
         }}
       />
     );
@@ -17,7 +21,11 @@ class C1 extends PureComponent1 {
     return (
       <div
         ref={(ref) => {
-          this.refs.refName = ref;
+          if(ref === null) {
+            delete this.refs.refName;
+          } else {
+            this.refs.refName = ref;
+          }
         }}
       />
     );
diff --git a/packages/codemods/react/19/replace-string-ref/__testfixtures__/class-component-default-import.output.tsx b/packages/codemods/react/19/replace-string-ref/__testfixtures__/class-component-default-import.output.tsx
index 82a3dc8c9..90886e398 100644
--- a/packages/codemods/react/19/replace-string-ref/__testfixtures__/class-component-default-import.output.tsx
+++ b/packages/codemods/react/19/replace-string-ref/__testfixtures__/class-component-default-import.output.tsx
@@ -5,7 +5,11 @@ class C extends React.Component {
     return (
       <div
         ref={(ref) => {
-          this.refs.refName = ref;
+          if(ref === null) {
+            delete this.refs.refName;
+          } else {
+            this.refs.refName = ref;
+          }
         }}
       />
     );
@@ -17,7 +21,11 @@ class C1 extends React.PureComponent {
     return (
       <div
         ref={(ref) => {
-          this.refs.refName = ref;
+          if(ref === null) {
+            delete this.refs.refName;
+          } else {
+            this.refs.refName = ref;
+          }
         }}
       />
     );
diff --git a/packages/codemods/react/19/replace-string-ref/__testfixtures__/class-component-named-import.output.tsx b/packages/codemods/react/19/replace-string-ref/__testfixtures__/class-component-named-import.output.tsx
index 99dcc6f76..34afd90f0 100644
--- a/packages/codemods/react/19/replace-string-ref/__testfixtures__/class-component-named-import.output.tsx
+++ b/packages/codemods/react/19/replace-string-ref/__testfixtures__/class-component-named-import.output.tsx
@@ -5,7 +5,11 @@ class C extends Component {
     return (
       <div
         ref={(ref) => {
-          this.refs.refName = ref;
+          if(ref === null) {
+            delete this.refs.refName;
+          } else {
+            this.refs.refName = ref;
+          }
         }}
       />
     );
@@ -17,7 +21,11 @@ class C1 extends PureComponent {
     return (
       <div
         ref={(ref) => {
-          this.refs.refName = ref;
+          if(ref === null) {
+            delete this.refs.refName;
+          } else {
+            this.refs.refName = ref;
+          }
         }}
       />
     );
diff --git a/packages/codemods/react/19/replace-string-ref/src/index.ts b/packages/codemods/react/19/replace-string-ref/src/index.ts
index 1a1ff0242..65f7f25bb 100644
--- a/packages/codemods/react/19/replace-string-ref/src/index.ts
+++ b/packages/codemods/react/19/replace-string-ref/src/index.ts
@@ -9,16 +9,13 @@ const buildCallbackRef = (j: JSCodeshift, refName: string) =>
       j.arrowFunctionExpression(
         [j.jsxIdentifier("ref")],
         j.blockStatement([
-          j.expressionStatement(
-            j.assignmentExpression(
-              "=",
-              j.memberExpression(
-                j.memberExpression(j.thisExpression(), j.identifier("refs")),
-                j.identifier(refName),
-              ),
-              j.identifier("ref"),
-            ),
-          ),
+          j.template.statement`
+            if (ref === null) {
+              delete this.refs.${j.identifier(refName)};
+            } else {
+              this.refs.${j.identifier(refName)} = ref;
+            }
+        `,
         ]),
       ),
     ),

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC '-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN' 'http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd'>
<html xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'>
<head>
<title>pFad - Phonifier reborn</title>
<meta http-equiv='Content-Type' content='text/html; charset=utf-8' />
</head>
<body>
<h1>Pfad - The Proxy pFad of &#169; 2024 Garber Painting. All rights reserved.</h1>


<!-- Disclaimer -->
<p>Note: This service is not intended for secure transactions such as banking, social media, email, or purchasing. Use at your own risk. We assume no liability whatsoever for broken pages.</p>
<br>
<p>Alternative Proxies:</p><p><a href="http://rainy.clevelandohioweatherforecast.com/php-proxy/index.php?q=https://patch-diff.githubusercontent.com/raw/codemod-com/codemod/pull/1310.diff" target="_blank">Alternative Proxy</a></p><p><a href="http://rainy.clevelandohioweatherforecast.com/pFad/index.php?u=https://patch-diff.githubusercontent.com/raw/codemod-com/codemod/pull/1310.diff" target="_blank">pFad Proxy</a></p><p><a href="http://rainy.clevelandohioweatherforecast.com/pFad/v3index.php?u=https://patch-diff.githubusercontent.com/raw/codemod-com/codemod/pull/1310.diff" target="_blank">pFad v3 Proxy</a></p><p><a href="http://rainy.clevelandohioweatherforecast.com/pFad/v4index.php?u=https://patch-diff.githubusercontent.com/raw/codemod-com/codemod/pull/1310.diff" target="_blank">pFad v4 Proxy</a></p></body>
</html>