To escape imposed deficit discourses around immigrant students when discussing their achievement in mathematics; this study examines immigrant students’ own perspectives on their opportunities to learn mathematics. This was done by interviewing immigrant students from a multicultural and socially deprived area in Sweden, in two focus groups. In the interviews rowdy mathematics classrooms, the multicultural school and segregation emerged as hindrances that limit their opportunities to learn mathematics, creating a feeling of despair. However, the students demonstrated hope when talking about the future, which indicates a need for students towalk a balance between these two opposites when interpreting their opportunities to learn mathematics.