ACLU is an advocate. The court is not forcing these payments, nor would it, because it is not the law. The administration is taking its lawyer hat off to make these payments to settle the case. Once again we see that you mean the opposite of what you say.
With your logic, I should file nuisance suits against the United States government, and then offer to settle for below the cost of the litigation, and the US government should always pay me. Yeah, that makes sense. But, we all know you wouldn't say that if, say, gun owners were suing the United States for enforcing its gun laws against them. I assume you would agree that the government shouldn't pay settlements to gun owners in such cases. Say that I am wrong on this point; I dare you.