<p>Teaching multilingual students from African immigrant and refugee backgrounds in the U.S. remains a persistent challenge for educators. Limited educational programs directly cater to the unique needs of these students, with a particular gap in addressing the educational needs arising from partially overlapping marginalized identities. Phenomenological study methods were employed to glean insights from three public secondary school teachers on their lived experiences with multilingual African immigrant and refugee background (AIRB) students. The study revealed that teacher preparation and professional development overlooked the experiences of AIRB students, and teachers struggled to embrace and accommodate classroom diversity while grappling with underlying structural obstacles impacting multilingual AIRB students. Teachers identified gaps in their training that affected their capacity to effectively meet the needs of multilingual AIRB students. Teachers' positionality and agency emerged as critical factors in addressing these needs. The findings underscore the importance of equipping teachers with the requisite skills to effectively navigate 21st-century classrooms, while also providing recommendations informed by teachers' insights. </p>