Of course it’s illegal [1], but it’s also an uphill battle on three fronts. First, you’d probably get fired. Second, you’d immediately get branded as something like a white supremacist or privileged asshole by your coworkers and the online social justice mobs. Third you’d have to get a jury to actually side with you (if you could afford to bring it that far in court).
It is illegal, but i haven't challenged it simply because I would lose my job.
I said "HR" in my comment, because it is effectively what it is, but the real name is "Diversity, Equity and Inclusion team". Their mandate is to increase diversity, and since they also deal with HR duties they have a lot of power.
And to be clear, I was never instructed in writing. It was always during conversations. It would literally be "I say, they say".
Effectively its just a bit of waste of my time (and the applicants) since I'm not yet forced to move them to the on-site, or give them a different take home. It's probably coming eventually though.
It is not legal, and if the OP has sufficient documentation then an EEOC complaint would be justified. Of course, in doing so the OP would also likely need to find a new career.
[1] https://www.eeoc.gov/youth/racecolor-discrimination-faqs#Q6