Or worse yet: "Sorry, a group of our employees recently went back to Mexico to start their own business there, we can only hire Hispanic for the foreseeable fut

Or worse yet: "Sorry, a group of our employees recently went back to Mexico to start their own business there, we can only hire Hispanic for the foreseeable future." Bonus question: should the HR department be allowed to ask for ethnicity ahead of time or would noneligible applicants have to sacrifice precious time in futile interviews?