diff --git a/misc/completion/ocrmypdf.bash b/misc/completion/ocrmypdf.bash
index 3683d8f7..e3bd25a9 100644
--- a/misc/completion/ocrmypdf.bash
+++ b/misc/completion/ocrmypdf.bash
@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@ _ocrmypdf()
     if [[ $cur == -* ]]; then
         COMPREPLY=( $( compgen -W '--language --image-dpi --output-type
             --sidecar --version --jobs --quiet --verbose --title --author
-            --subject --keywords --rotate-pages --remove-background --deskew
+            --subject --keywords --rotate-pages --deskew
             --clean --clean-final --unpaper-args --oversample --remove-vectors
             --force-ocr --skip-text --redo-ocr
             --skip-big --jpeg-quality --png-quality --jbig2-lossy
diff --git a/src/ocrmypdf/_pipeline.py b/src/ocrmypdf/_pipeline.py
index af603357..cddc176c 100644
--- a/src/ocrmypdf/_pipeline.py
+++ b/src/ocrmypdf/_pipeline.py
@@ -20,7 +20,6 @@ import pikepdf
 from pikepdf.models.metadata import encode_pdf_date
 from PIL import Image, ImageColor, ImageDraw
 
-from ocrmypdf import leptonica
 from ocrmypdf._concurrent import Executor
 from ocrmypdf._exec import unpaper
 from ocrmypdf._jobcontext import PageContext, PdfContext
@@ -466,7 +465,8 @@ def rasterize(
 def preprocess_remove_background(input_file: Path, page_context: PageContext):
     if any(image.bpc > 1 for image in page_context.pageinfo.images):
         output_file = page_context.get_path('pp_rm_bg.png')
-        leptonica.remove_background(input_file, output_file)
+        # leptonica.remove_background(input_file, output_file)
+        raise NotImplementedError("--remove-background is temporarily not implemented")
         return output_file
     else:
         log.info("background removal skipped on mono page")
diff --git a/tests/test_image_input.py b/tests/test_image_input.py
index bbce6011..c3d01b5f 100644
--- a/tests/test_image_input.py
+++ b/tests/test_image_input.py
@@ -74,6 +74,7 @@ def test_img2pdf_fails(resources, no_outpdf):
         mock.assert_called()
 
 
+@pytest.mark.xfail(reason="remove background disabled")
 def test_jpeg_in_jpeg_out(resources, outpdf):
     check_ocrmypdf(
         resources / 'congress.jpg',
diff --git a/tests/test_main.py b/tests/test_main.py
index 70359cdb..c9a5b754 100644
--- a/tests/test_main.py
+++ b/tests/test_main.py
@@ -165,7 +165,6 @@ def test_maximum_options(renderer, output_type, resources, outpdf):
         '-k',
         '--oversample',
         '300',
-        '--remove-background',
         '--skip-big',
         '10',
         '--title',
@@ -533,7 +532,7 @@ def test_pagesize_consistency(renderer, resources, outpdf):
         renderer,
         '--clean' if have_unpaper() else None,
         '--deskew',
-        '--remove-background',
+        # '--remove-background',
         '--clean-final' if have_unpaper() else None,
         '-k',
         '--pages',
diff --git a/tests/test_preprocessing.py b/tests/test_preprocessing.py
index 6418ad6b..d4b4d63b 100644
--- a/tests/test_preprocessing.py
+++ b/tests/test_preprocessing.py
@@ -41,6 +41,7 @@ def test_deskew(resources, outdir):
     assert -0.5 < skew_angle < 0.5, "Deskewing failed"
 
 
+@pytest.mark.xfail(reason="remove background disabled")
 def test_remove_background(resources, outdir):
     # Ensure the input image does not contain pure white/black
     with Image.open(resources / 'congress.jpg') as im: