Although not explicitly illegal, asking these kind of questions in another country would open up the risk of being sued for discrimination in case a person belonging to a minority wouldnt get the job.

Ive always wondered about the US' obsession with racial heritage (I thought that got settled in 1945) etc.

These questions are asked (at least in the US context) due to required reporting to the EEOC: https://www.eeoc.gov/data/eeo-data-collections

It’s been awhile since I was a hiring manager but I was told the company gets paid thousands by the federal government for each Hispanic person they hire.