it has nothing to do with referrals. its people who never met eachother but favor each other based on country of origin. such that certain orgs don't speak english at all
First off, citation needed that discrimination based on national origin is widespread. It's illegal and you should blow the whistle if you have actual knowledge of such acts.
Second, "You're looking to hire X? My husband's friends's cousin is looking for an X role. Can I have her contact you?" => is a very common way of getting job interviews no matter what your nationality. If knowledge about the position is only propagated through personal and professional networks, the applicant pool will reflect that.
> such that certain orgs don't speak english at all
Sounds like bad management. If you believe in the free market, these businesses will fail. But I don't think they're breaking any laws, unless they discriminate against candidates that don't know this language (which is, again illegal, and you should report them).
and some of it may not even be explicit discrimination but self sorting. If i’m interviewing with multiple teams am i really going to join the one whose primary communication mechanism is in chinese/hindi and i’m the only american there? or choose the americanized team