[mtrpcic]

Yes, I would have had the same reaction. This is a great way to put a false limit on your potential talent pool. I'm not saying that adding programs or policies to add outreach to specific communities that are under-represented in your organization is bad. I'm saying that setting a hard-and-fast rule that your next hires must fit a particular trend to "balance the team" is a great way to frustrate your recruiting team (either internal or external), slow team growth to an unpredictable crawl, and will cause you to pass over potentially excellent candidates for the wrong reasons. The statement quoted by OP essentially equates to "the candidate had the wrong genitals at the wrong time", which is an absolutely absurd way to think about hiring. I would say the same thing about any of your counter-examples (e.g. to your Syrian Refugee example, "We won't be hiring you right now, because you're not a refugee from the right place" would be a rejection reason if you were trying to "balance the team" via preferential hiring treatment)