How to implement validation exception using Validation Facade

I am implementing an import functionality using Laravel Excel and pushing the process to a queue. I needed to incorporate validation into this import. After discovering that Laravel Excel's built-in validation doesn't work properly with queues, I implemented custom validation. I'm trying to achieve this using the Validator Facade and ValidationException.

However, after testing, I realized that the catch I added using ValidationException is not working; instead, the catch for Exception is handling the error. I looked into this issue in Laravel documentation and forums but didn't find any solution. Hence, I am seeking an answer here.

Here is the sample code I have implemented:

<?php

namespace App\Imports;

use App\Models\User;
use Exception;
use Illuminate\Contracts\Queue\ShouldQueue;
use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Validator;
use Maatwebsite\Excel\Concerns\Importable;
use Maatwebsite\Excel\Concerns\OnEachRow;
use Maatwebsite\Excel\Concerns\SkipsFailures;
use Maatwebsite\Excel\Concerns\SkipsOnFailure;
use Maatwebsite\Excel\Concerns\WithChunkReading;
use Maatwebsite\Excel\Concerns\WithHeadingRow;
use Maatwebsite\Excel\Row;
use Maatwebsite\Excel\Validators\ValidationException;

class EngagementImport implements OnEachRow, SkipsOnFailure, WithHeadingRow, WithChunkReading, ShouldQueue 
{
	use Importable, SkipsFailures;
	
	
	/**
	 * @param int business_id
	 * @return 
	 */
	public function __construct($business_id)
	{
			$this->business_id = $business_id;
	}

  /**
   * Tweak the data slightly before sending it to the validator
   * @param $data
   * @param $index
   * @return mixed
   */
  public function prepareForValidation($data) {
		// Modify data if need before validation
  }

  /**
   * List the validation rules
   * @return array
   */
  public function rules(): array {
    return [
      'first_name'  => 'required',
      'last_name' 	=> 'nullable',
      'email'    	=> 'required',
    ];
  }

  /**
   * @param Row $row
   * @return \Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Model|null
   */
  public function onRow(Row $row) {
    $row = $row->toArray();
    
		try {

			$row = $this->prepareForValidation($row);

			$validator = Validator::make($row, $this->rules());

			$data = $validator->validate();

			$user = User::create([
				'first_name' 	=> $row['first_name'],
				'last_name' 	=> $row['last_name'],
				'email' 		=> $row['email']
			]);

		} catch (ValidationException $e) {
			info("---- Validation Error for Import User {$row['first_name']} ----");
			info($e->errors());
			info("--------------------------------------------------------------");
		} catch (Exception $e) {
			info('Exception: ' . $e->getMessage() . ' on ' . $e->getLine() . ' line.');
			info('----------------- Error row -----------------');
			info($row);
			info('---------------------------------------------');
    }
  }

  public function chunkSize(): int {
		return 1000;
  }
}