Sounds like someone above the manager is responsible for this and the manager is carrying out orders. You don't get a historic paper trail like that by not being told to continue on.
Any sufficiently low quota is equivalent to exclusion (ie a quota of 1 is pretty much like a quota of 0, which really means "nobody"). The very notion of quota implies exclusion (of those who are "past the quota").
Both of those are illegal.
The current Department of Labor on affirmative action [0] clearly paints a very different picture that more accurately reflects the current meaning:
For federal contractors and subcontractors, affirmative action must be taken by covered employers to recruit and advance qualified minorities, women, persons with disabilities, and covered veterans.
And here’s the dictionary entry for “affirmative action:”
efforts to make education and employment available to people who have traditionally been treated unfairly, for example because of their race or sex, by giving them some advantages over people who have traditionally been more powerful
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/affir...
[0]: https://www.dol.gov/general/topic/hiring/affirmativeact