[Bug] <macro is not honoring the defer flag>

[emilee-jurkowski]

Is this a new bug in dbt-core?

• I believe this is a new bug in dbt-core
• I have searched the existing issues, and I could not find an existing issue for this bug

Current Behavior

In my model_b.sql I have something like {% set val_list = dbt_utils.get_column_values(table=ref('model_a'), column='VAL') %}. I try to run a dbt build using a defer flag. model_a does not exist in the the db & schema that I am building in, yet it still will not use the db & schema I am telling it to defer to. When I run dbt ls -s 1+model_b, dbt does recognize that model_a is upstream and being referred to.

Expected Behavior

In the above example, the dbt_utils macro should use the defer db & schema to get the column values from model_a.

Steps To Reproduce

I have model_b like such

{% set val_list = dbt_utils.get_column_values(table=ref('model_a'), column='VAL') %}

{% for val in val_list %}
select
      col_1
    , null as col_2
    , date_trunc('month', col_3) as col_3  
    , '{{ val }}' as val
from {{ ref('model_ab') }}
{%- endfor -%}

Then run dbt run -s model_b+1 in the dev environment with a defer to the prod environment.

Relevant log output

Compilation Error in model model_b (models/model_b.sql)
    In get_column_values(): relation DEV.SCHEMA.MODEL_A does not exist and no default value was provided.

Environment

- dbt: 1.8.7

Which database adapter are you using with dbt?

snowflake

Additional Context

No response